Permission
by robinh
Summary: He really thought it was a good idea. After all, he really had only the best intentions. Well, it didn't really end well. And now she's mad, too. It's going to be tough, especially with the case they work on. Fortunately, Steve McGarrett never takes no for an answer.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: I do not own Hawaii Five 0. I wish I did. I could change some critical aspects. This was supposed to be a one shot. But it became too long. It will be posted as a short multichapter one, instead. No specific time. McKono obviously. All the team is there, though.

Please tell me what you think.

* * *

"Permission? you asked for permission? why would you ask for permission? you never ask for permission. To be honest, I could swear you wouldn't recognize permission if it sat on your head singing the national anthem."

"I thought it'd be cute..."

"_Cute_?!"

"You know, polite. Old fashioned. I thought it would make him think that I'm thoughtful and that I respect his opinion."

"Yeah..." Danny looks at him dubiously "so how did it go?"

"Terrible" Steve says holding his face in his hands, as they sit there in his office "I start to think it was a really stupid idea."

"Why?" Danny looks at his partner questioningly "what happened?"

"What happened?" Steve looks at him in despair "he said no..."

()()()

She stands in the middle of the room with Chin and they both look at the scene in silence. The room is a standard motel room, with big bed in the middle covered with old and overly used bedspread. There are also a small table near the curtain covered window, a chair, a television set, two nightstands and a small cupboard. The only thing that is not standard is the numerous splatters of blood on the wall and on the nightstand, and the big bloody cleaver that is thrown unceremoniously on the bed.

"No body?" she asks Chin again.

"No body" he confirms "no signs of blood outside the room either."

"A car?"

"Multiple tire marks in the dirt on the parking lot in front of the room. But there are 20 rooms around it, so we'll have to map all of them first."

"So..." she looks around her again.

"So..." Chin smiles "it's not exactly the traditional murder scene, but I think we can say it looks... somewhat suspicious..."

She laughs at his keen observation, and pulls out her phone to call Danny and Steve. Before she has the chance to dial the number, the phone rings and her mother's name appears on the screen.

"My mom" she mumbles to Chin "strange, I've talked to her yesterday. Ok... I'll have to get back to her." She ignores the call and calls the office. She gives Steve the address and a short description of what they found, when she makes another call to Charlie at the lab, right after that, she has a call waiting from her mother, again. When she finishes the call, just before she disconnects, Chin's phone starts to ring.

"It's your mother" he says curiously "now she's calling me."

"Really?" he shows her the phone "well, answer it..."

"No way" he shakes his head "she sounds furious."

"What do you mean she sounds furious?" Kono looks at him like he's crazy "it's a telephone ringtone. How can it sound furious?"

"Oh... I know her " Chin tells her seriously "she's furious, I can practically sense the vibrations. She's _your_ mother, and _I'm_ not getting involved, you answer her!"

"You are a coward, cuz" she informs him when he steps outside, and leaves her to make the call. Then she stands there, in the middle of the bloody crime scene, listens to her mother for long fifteen minutes, getting angrier and angrier by the second.

()()()

She steps out of the room eventually, to see Chin taking pictures of the tire marks in the parking lot. He tries to have them all documented and mapped, before the other crews get there and drive all over them. She stands on the higher wood platform, arms crossed, silent and furious.

"What's up cuz?" he asks curiously, "something's wrong?"

"No. Nothing" she says casually "basically, I think it's good news. I think I found us a corpse to investigate."

"Really?" he looks at her, a bit surprised.

"Yes" she nods decisively "just wait a few more minutes, till Steve gets here. I'm going to fucking kill him!"

()()()

He stops the Camaro next to Chin's van. Danny is out of the car in an instant, but he still sits there, in the driver seat, searching for her around the place. She's nowhere in sight. Probably inside the motel room, with Chin. He looks around him, two police cars are already parked there, in the parking lot, and there's a CSI van right next to them.

"Are you coming, babe?" Danny leans through the window "I believe we have some work to do."

"Yeah" he murmurs quietly "I'm just..."

"Don't worry, babe. I've got your back, you know. Besides, there are a lot of armed officers here. I'm pretty sure, she can't hurt you."

"You say that..." Steve grumbles "but we both know she can take all of you with her eyes closed."

"Steve, she's a professional. She knows we're in the middle of a murder scene. What will she do, shoot you on sight?" Danny smiles at him and claps his back when he finally gets out of the car "it's fine, really" he continues when they walk slowly towards the room she described earlier "you know perfectly well, she'd want to torture you first. Only then, she'll shoot you..."

()()()

When they enter the room he still has some hope that she doesn't know yet. He means, it's a possibility, right? He knows she speaks to her mom almost every day, but it's still early, and she's working. Maybe he can still be the one who tells her first... When she hears them coming, though, and she turns around to greet them, he can see how her eyes burn with fury, behind her seemingly professional, well controlled expression. She holds what he assumes is the murder weapon, in her gloved hand, and he can see for a fleeting moment how her eyes flicker form him to the bloody cleaver, as if she's weighing her options.

"You" he calls to one of the SCI officers who takes photos of the room "take the knife from officer Kalakaua, and bag it. Do it _now_, and I'll recommend you for a promotion, deal?"

The guy nods enthusiastically, and rushes to take the cleaver from Kono's hand. He's not entirely sure, but it looks like the guy really has to force her to release it, for a second. When she finally lets it go, he exhales sharply. It actually feels much safer.

"We'll talk about it later" he tells her quietly "OK?"

"We'll _talk_ about it?" she laughs at him incredulously "so you think we're _talking_?"

"I can explain, I promise" he whispers.

"No, Steve" she looks at him seriously "you really can't..."

()()()

"The room was rented to a couple" Chin says when he comes back from the reception "their names are Paula and Ron Smith."

"Did they show any papers for identification?" Danny asks.

"Yes. Ron's driver's license. The receptionist gave it back, but she kept the car details. A blue 2009 Ford pickup truck. A rental. I have the plate number."

"Good" Steve says "put it in the system. Let's keep HPD and the ports authority in the loop, too. They gave the car's plate number when they rented the room, so I think we should assume it's not the best lead. We have to keep our eyes open for another getaway car. Kono, what can you tell me about the scene?"

"Well" she says carefully "it looks like we have two areas of interest. The big room, specifically there on the right side of the bed, near the wall. As you can see there are multiple splatters of blood, the bed is shoved a little to the left, like it was pushed, and there's a broken lamp on the floor that was probably positioned initially on the nightstand."

"Looks like a fight" Danny says.

"Yes" Kono nods "but it looks like this is only part of the action. In the bathroom, it looks even worse."

She takes them to the bathroom, and shows them the gruesome image of a torn up bath curtain, pools of blood everywhere, a broken mirror, and a few towels thrown on the floor, with clotted blood all over them.

"Wow..." Steve looks around him, obviously impressed.

"Yes" Danny says with a weird smile "It's practically a _blood bath_ in here." They don't laugh. All three of them look at him with annoyance "what?" he asks with a huff "too soon?"

"CSI says there's a lot of organic substance in the bath" Kono says after they all finish to look at Danny angrily "hair is the most obvious one, but they say ,maybe more."

"More?" Steve asks with alarm "what do you mean more?"

"By the amount of blood, and the residues..." she says slowly "whatever happened here, was pretty violent. Also, the technician says he thinks there's another substance in the blood. He's right. I smelt it the minute I entered the room. I think it might be bleach."

"Bleach?" Chin asks "if it's mixed with the blood, it might damage the evidence, especially DNA."

"I already informed Charlie" she tells them "he said he'll do his best."

"Right" Steve looks around him "any clothes in the room? personal items? bags?"

"No. The room was stripped clean. We couldn't even find trash in the trash can."

"Great" Steve sighs "so we have what looks like a murder scene, but we have no body to prove it. We think a couple was involved. Probably one of them, is our victim. Not a lot to work with. is it?"

"The receptionist said the girl had a long blonde hair" Chin says "the hairs CSI found were blond too. Everything in the scene suggests it was quite a fight, and took a lot of effort. I'd bet the victim is the wife."

"Yes, that's logical." Steve and Danny willingly agree.

"No way" Kono shakes her head determinedly "this kind of fury? only a guy can cause so much rage. Trust me, it was the husband who was killed. By his wife. Frankly, I'm not sure I can blame her..."

()()()

They go through everything around the motel. Steve and Danny interview the rest of the staff, while Kono and Chin finish to process the scene. When they're done, they make sure all the evidences are bagged and sent to the lab. Then, they have nothing more to do there. They are making their last preparations to go back to HQ when Chin gets a phone call from HPD, about the missing car. The Ford was found abandoned in a gas station in the North Shore, so Steve and Danny go to check it out. When she and Chin are back at HQ, they start to analyze the photos from the scene. They upload the photos Chin took of the different tire marks, and try to run them against the commercial database. It takes them a while to make sense of the numerous tires, and they spend a lot of time at the smart table, moving the pictures, and arguing, and telling each other they're wrong. They are still deeply absorbed in solving this puzzle, when the guys are back.

()()()

"The Ford was clean, no signs of a break in." Danny informs them as he and Steve come to stand near the computer.

"Any progress at your end?" Steve asks hopefully.

"Not yet" Chin informs them "we're still trying to separate the marks to different vehicles. It's... challenging... especially when you have an angry and impatient partner working beside you. Seriously, barh, what have you done?"

He looks at her carefully when Chin says it. She ignores him. So it seems. Even though, he is certain he can see her looking at him from the corner of her eye, challenging him to say something.

"Go on..." Danny mouths to him, nudging him.

"Right..." Steve mumbles "about that... Look, Kono. I'm sorry. I know how it looks... you probably think I've made a mistake..."

"_A mistake_?!" she cries incredulously "_a mistake_? A mistake is when you accidently punch a suspect too hard, or when you drive the Camaro into a ditch."

"Twice" Danny says from his corner.

"Or when you try to argue with Danny about... well about anything, really. _A mistake_?! Steve, this was practically an intentional sabotage!"

"Sabotage?" he objects "I swear, I had the purest intentions. I really thought I was doing the right thing, it's not my fault that he's..."

"That he's..." she looks at him threateningly "oh, please... go on..."

"Don't" Danny cries "shut up now, before you say something stupid!"

"That he's so petty and resentful" Steve says.

"Yeah, that's right..." Danny sighs "before you say something stupid like _that_!"

"What have you done?" Chin looks at him apprehensively "Kono, what did he do?"

"He went to my parents house, last night, without telling me and asked my father for permission" She hisses in anger.

"Permission?" Chin looks at the both of them, as they stand there looking at each other furiously "permission to do what?"

"Permission to fucking marry me!"

()()()

"He did what?" Chin whispers in shock.

"He went there last night, after dinner, unannounced" she explains patiently "knocked on the door, almost caused my mom a heart attack, because she was sure he came to tell her I was shot dead on the job or something. Then he sat with them in the living room, my mom, my dad, Tutu and the boys and declared that he wants to marry me, and he came to ask for my father's permission."

"Marry you?" Chin looks at her like she just told him there's snow in Hawaii "since when does he want to marry you?"

"What?" she looks at her cousin with confusion "since.. a while... what difference does it make? it's not the point... Chin, he went to my dad..."

"Since when do you want to marry her?" he looks at Steve with anger "you never mentioned anything about marriage. Did you know about it?" he looks at Danny with accusation.

"Me?" Danny snorts "he never tells me anything! I have to _beg him_ to share things with me. He said something about them getting married a few weeks ago, but we were in the middle of a chase at the time, and a few people were shooting at us, so I thought I misheard him."

"When did you ask her to marry you?" Chin looks at Steve pointedly.

"Yes, babe" Danny looks at him curiously "actually, it's a good question, when did you propose to her?"

"What do you mean ask her?" he looks at the two of them like they're crazy "why the hell should I ask her to marry me? I mean, it's... pretty obvious. I don't need to ask her."

It's quite alarming the way Chin and Danny turn their head and look straight at her, both at the same time. They look at her with great intensity, like they're ready for her to explode at any second, after Steve's last declaration.

"What?" she says resentfully "of course he doesn't need to ask me. What kind of girl do you think I am? you honestly think I would sit and wait until he'll be kind enough to offer? no way. This is not the way it works between us..."

"I see" Danny drawls slowly "so... just for laughs, you know, even though, I would probably regret it... how exactly does it work between you two?"

()()()

"He went to his training last month" she shrugs.

"Yes... I remember..." Danny encourages her.

"So when he came back, after three weeks, he brought home with him all this awful forms and paperwork they gave him, because he had to update his personal information. So he was trying to fill them out, and to put all the information about his past military service, and his insurance, and beneficiaries. And it took him ages, but you know him, when he's trying to do something, he gets really preoccupied, and obsessive, and he kept pushing all this special declarations and affidavits at me, and have me sign them, because he wanted to change the names, and put mine and Mary Ann's there instead of his father's and.. it was Saturday... and he wasn't home for_ three whole weeks_... and we were trying to..."

"Please don't mention sex." Danny looks at her pleadingly.

"What?" she looks at him with confusion.

"Say surfing. Whenever you want to talk about you two having sex, just say surfing. It would be very kind of you."

"Fine" she grumbles "you see, I've missed him. He was back after such a long time, and we were trying to have... _to surf._" she looks pointedly at Danny "so I told him to get rid of the forms and that I don't want to ever see them again, and it hurt his feelings, like in every other occasion when I happen to suggest that I'm less than _absolutely thrilled_ with the _US fucking military_, or the _Navy_ or god forbid the_ SEALs_. So he got out of bed, and started pacing around the room, and talking about how important the forms are, and how tenuous my position as his girlfriend really is, and he started to list all the horrible things that would happen if I don't have my name on the god damn paperwork, and... I really wanted _to surf_, and I thought to myself, just sign the fucking forms and have him relaxed enough to... you know... attend to... _your board_... so I said 'fine, put my name anywhere you want, and forget about it', and he said 'you know, it would be much easier if we got married and I could just file you as my wife, so they could just put your name in the system and we'd get rid of all the other statements.' So I said, 'fine, let's get married, just get into bed for god's sakes because I want to... _surf?! you_... so he did, and we did, for a couple of hours, and he was back home, and I was really happy, and I really thought he forgot about the whole thing, but obviously, he never forgets anything, and he probably had everything all figured out, and he just forgot to inform me, so now I'm hearing he went to my dad, and practically ruined everything!"

"Fuck" Danny says when there's a new, deep, intense silence around the smart table after her little speech.

"I think you mean, _surf_!" Chin tells him nonchalantly.

"That's the stupidest way to ask a woman to marry you, I have ever heard of. Congratulations Steven, I really think you hit a record with this one."

"What's wrong with it?" Steve looks at him with resentment.

"Military bureaucracy? seriously?" Danny looks at him like he's crazy "no 'I love you', 'I want to spend my life with you', 'I want you to have my children'... nothing?"

"Well... no..." he admits "I told you, it was pretty clear. I mean... we've been together for a year now, living together for six months. Where else could it be headed, if not for marriage?"

"You know, babe. I really thought it would be good for you to be with Kono" Danny muses quietly, as he watches his best friend with sorrow in his eyes "that you'll be calmer, more relaxed, and learn how to laugh about things, and take things easy."

"Danno..."

"I thought, if anything" he continues "you'll improve your decision making process."

"There's nothing wrong with..."

"Apparently I was wrong. You're just as bad as he is, aren't you, babe?" he looks at his young teammate who watches her boyfriend with clear disapproval "one look at his body and all your priorities are screwed up. You let him get away with this shit, and make him act fast and recklessly just because you want to... _surf_ with him?"

"Well" she says decisively, crossing her arms over her chest "that's not gonna be an issue anymore, actually. After what he did with my father? He's not _surfing_ with me anytime soon. Possibly ever again. I promise you!"

()()()

"So what happened?" Chin tries to focus again on the new _McGarrett induced catastrophe_ in his cousin's life.

"I told them to wait with the forms until I got everything settled" he explains.

"Not the forms, Steve... I mean..." he looks at Kono with what he believes is quite a legitimate feeling of desperation "Jeez cuz, I can't believe I introduced you to this guy..."

"You mean with Kono's parents?" he asks with apparent lack of enthusiasm.

"Yes" Chin confirms "tell me about _you_ trying to kill _my uncle_."

"I didn't try to kill him" he clarifies "I really thought it would be a good idea. We finished work early, and when I came home Kono was already at the beach with Malia, so I thought about waiting for her, but..."

"_You couldn't wait_" they say it all together.

"Well, no" he admits "I mean, I've already decided, so... I figured I should just do it. I went there, and when her mother opened the door, I guess I looked a bit... a bit, serious, or preoccupied, because she took one look at me, and put her hand on her mouth and started crying. So I came in, but she kept walking away from me, and the boys all came, and they saw their mother, and they all started to shout, and her dad came, and they were all standing around me, talking together, all at the same time, so I didn't realize what was going on at first, but then her tutu showed up and asked me what happened to _Kono_, and I said that nothing, she's fine, and that I only came to talk to her dad, and there was a second or two when everybody were quiet, and just looked at me... jeez, I mean, I really think they were all pissed off at me, then and there. Even before I actually started..."

There's silence around the table when he tells them all that. They all look at him with a mixture of shock, disbelief and commiseration. They aren't saying anything, and when he looks at Kono she has this alarmed look on her face, he just takes a deep breath and continues.

"So... eventually, I had them all sitting down at the living room. Which mind you, was not my initial intention. I only meant to talk to her father, alone. Possibly her mother too, if absolutely necessary. But at this point the boys were practically beaming with joy, and refused to go, because as Kapali phrased it 'they really wanted a piece of the action'. So I stood there in the middle of the living room, and it's not that I'd prepared a speech or anything, so I said that Kono and I are very happy together, and would like to make it official, so I thought it would be nice if I came here to ask for Mr Kalakaua's permission to marry her."

"_And...?_" they all ask together with bated breaths.

"And... _nothing_. He didn't say anything, just looked at me like I was crazy. He took off his glasses, and crossed his arms, and I could see how he's tapping his fingers slowly, all the time looking at me like I did something wrong. I mean, I went through military training, I was taken captive, I was interrogated by the Taliban... neither came _even close_ to this experience. The boys all started shouting, obviously. Makaio even started to run bets on the answer. Half of them were saying their dad will agree, and the other half said he'll kill me first. I mean, I thought they liked me. I took them camping and we went fishing together, and I took Nohoki to the shooting range, until... you know, until his mother found out. I really thought they would be thrilled... but they were all sitting there laughing their asses off, waiting to see blood."

"So he didn't say anything?" Danny asks with relief "so it's not so bad after all..."

"It's worse!"

She looks at Chin from her place near the table, Chin looks at her "go on" she sighs, and shakes her head towards her boyfriend "tell them."

"So..." he looks carefully at her "so I just stood there, looking at him, and he's not saying anything, right? So I took one step forward and crossed my arms, like I do in the interrogations room, and said I demanded an answer."

"_Demanded_?" Danny groans.

"Yes" he declares "demanded. I came there for a reason. I thought I should get my answer one way or the other."

"Did he ever meet your father?" Chin asks her with trepidation.

"Twice. But only briefly" she mumbles "I really hoped it would be enough..."

"Anyway" he continues "there was a heavy silence when I said it, and everyone was looking at her dad, and finally I saw him opening his mouth and I thought, OK, now I'll get my answer. Only before he had the time to speak Kono's mom asked _'is she pregnant?'_ and everything started all over again. I mean, this family is unbelievable, they all talk to each other all at the same time, and it seems like everyone has something clever to say, and they all think for some reason that everything that happens to one of them is everybody else's business. Kale started to say that he wished we had twins, and Kapali said that if I come to ask for permission to marry Kono, I should really do it before I knock her up, and Makaio started with the money and the bets again, and everybody were talking and shouting and laughing and I couldn't make them shut up... so... I whistled."

"_You whistled?_" Kono cries.

"Yes" he says apologetically "and a pretty strong whistle, too. But, what else could I do? I had to make them shut up so I can tell them you're not pregnant." he cries in despair. She looks at him with alarm mixed with fury. By the look of her, letting him impregnate her is the furthest thing from her mind "it made the trick" he says quietly "they all stopped talking immediately. But then... then, tutu's hearing aid started to make all these noises, and Kono's mother had to help her take it off, and to readjust it, and when they finally finished they were all looking at me with so much resentment, that when I told them Kono wasn't pregnant I could see how they all looked extremely relieved."

"What about my uncle?" Chin insists "what happened?"

"Your uncle?" Steve sighs, shaking his head "after that he stood up from the couch where he was sitting, and stood in front of me. I didn't realize he was so big before. I mean he's taller than me and he's... he's really big... He gave me the once over, and looked pointedly at his wife, then he said _NO_."

"He said no? just like that?" Danny asks with surprise.

"That's exactly what I asked" Steve nods vigorously "I said, what do you mean no? just like that? so he said he doesn't like me, that he feels like Kono could do better, that he wouldn't have said anything because usually he really trusts her judgment, because she's such a good kid and a pretty remarkable woman, but since I came here and asked, he has to be honest, so his answer is _no_."

"Wow" Danny says.

"Yeah, wow." Chin agrees.

"I know, right? I mean, do you think he was kidding?" he asks hopefully.

"Kidding?" Chin looks at him strangely "of course he's not kidding. He really doesn't like you."

"That's not true" Steve protests "of course he likes me. I'm a great guy. Everybody likes me."

"He hates you, babe." Danny tells him "I'm sorry."

"He doesn't hate me" Steve smiles to his partner "and besides, you never met the man, how would _you_ know?"

"You're sleeping with his daughter. You're living with her, having hot heavy, wet, kinky, creepy sex with her all day, every day."

"It's not _creepy_..." he mumbles.

"I have a daughter, believe me. I would hate any man who'd _use the same sidewalk she uses_. You, my friend, with your advanced age, your guns, crazy stunts and your fucking tattoos, are his worst nightmare."

"You're talking crazy" he says apprehensively "Chin..."

"No, Steve. He's right. I'm your friend, and it still took me seven months from your first kiss and until I stopped wanting to shoot you every time you got near her. I mean, there are days when you're a little bit more... when it looks like you were..."

"_Surfing_?" Danny asks helpfully.

"Precisely" Chin nods "that I still automatically search for my gun."

He looks at them quietly, as he thinks about what they're saying. "No" he shakes his head decisively "no way. Kono's mom loves me, there's no reason for him to..."

"My mom doesn't love you" Kono cries from the other side of the table "what gave you this impression?"

"Of course she loves me. She keeps asking me how I am, and keeps bringing us food she knows I like, and she asks about my family all the time, and she looks at me with... kindness..."

"She doesn't like you, Steve" Kono insists "she only looks at your body, and inquire after your health and looks for details about hereditary diseases in your family because, as she sees it, there's a good chance you'll make her beautiful grandchildren."

"Grandchildren?" he looks at her unbelievingly.

"She doesn't like you, she likes _your sperm_" she clarifies.

He looks at her in silence for a long, long time. They all stand there around the table letting him process it all.

"I don't care" he cries finally "I'm going to fucking marry you, and they're all going to be there, and they're going to like it. Even if I have to drag their asses to city hall, and tie them to the chairs. Now get back to work, all of you" he shouts as he walks towards his office.

"Don't shout at everybody" she calls angrily after him "behave yourself. I'm mad at you as it is."

"I'm not shouting" he shouts back, from his office.

"You _are_ shouting" she informs him "which is stupid, because I'm actually not talking to you."

"I don't care" he shouts "I'm fucking marrying you, even if I'll have to drag you and tie you to a chair in city hall, too."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N1**: Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favored and especially for the ones who took the time and left me some words. You are so sweet.

**A/N2**: This chapter has very little to do with the case. I felt a bit stuck, so I decided to just post it and start moving my inspiration again with the third chapter. I hope you'll still be OK with it. I'm feeling a bit unsure with this one.

Please tell me what you think.

* * *

They keep working in silence for the rest of the day. Chin and Kono are making their progress slowly. They can identify eight different vehicles, and they start running them against the data base, while Danny is on the phone with the lab. The Ford is clean. Too clean. Not a single finger print, not a speck of blood. The only finding is the remains of an orange nylon bag under the driver's seat. It has no marking on it, and they're all quite skeptical about the possibility of finding anything from the analysis.

"I don't get it" Danny steps into Steve's office after an hour on the phone with the lab "it doesn't add up."

"What doesn't?" Steve looks at him from his desk.

"The scene. The car. The whole thing. It doesn't make sense."

Steve looks at his partner carefully. He knows him long enough to know that when his detective senses are on high alert, he should be listening to every word. The guy has the best hunch he had seen in his life, and when his instincts tell him something is wrong, he's usually right. Among the four of them Danny is probably the most experienced and most sophisticated detective. Chin was forced to work the streets for years so his strength lies there, he himself was busy chasing terrorists on the wrong side of the globe most of his adult life, and Kono was... let's face it... she was still in high school, when the guy was already solving murders in the slimy streets of New Jersey.

"Go on..." he leans back and looks at him thoughtfully "explain it to me..."

"It took too much work."

"The murder?"

"No, the scene. It took too much work. Too much time too. To pour the bleach on the blood, to clear the room from all the personal items, and then, to clean the car so meticulously. It looks like every stage, and every step that was taken to get rid of the evidences was carefully planned and obsessively executed."

"OK" Steve nods "I can see that."

"On the other hand, too many things were almost... random. Casual, even. I mean, what kind of murderer cleans the entire motel room, makes sure to destroy DNA evidences, but leaves the murder weapon in plain sight?"

"Maybe he was under pressure, thought he was seen and had to leave in a hurry..."

"No... the door was locked when the cleaners came in the morning, you remember, they told us. He had time to lock up, but not to take the weapon?"

"OK... I'd buy that. This actually looks very weird."

"The car, too. It was pretty much given to us as a present. It was parked in a gas station, where it would have necessarily be noticed within a few hours by the owner. I mean, the Haleiwa beach park is two miles down the road. Why not park it there, when it would probably remain unnoticed for days?"

"I see what you're saying" Steve nods "we're missing something."

"Yes" Danny looks at him thoughtfully "but I have no idea what."

()()()

By the time they have all the tire marks mapped it's pretty late. They have a good idea of manufacturers and models and they have the list of license plates, so Kono is able to have a rough idea of which tire marks belong to which car. It's not as simple as it looks. When they see they are still left with too many options, they both realize they'll have to go and find the actual cars to make a final identification.

It's no use to start with all of this today, and the lab didn't come up with anymore findings. The day is over.

()()()

They drive home in her car. Well, she drives. He just sits there beside her looking out the window gloomily. She looks at him from the corner of her eye, he looks serious, and tense, and much more quiet than his normal self. His fingers tap impatiently on the window.

"It's fine, babe" she says quietly "or at least, it will be... eventually..."

He doesn't answer, only looks out the window at the dark street that stretches in front of them. She says it again, and asks him to stop dwelling on it, she makes her best to promise her family will come around, and asks him not to take any of it personally. He doesn't answer. Only grunts occasionally when she says all this. She tries to swallow her anger when he retreats back to these monosyllabic responses "for fuck's sakes" she mumbles "it's exactly like the first weeks of our relationship when he had to be trained how to conduct a basic conversation."

()()()

When they get home, he opens the door, and makes his way to the kitchen. It's late, he's hungry.

"I'll make us dinner" he calls behind his back.

She doesn't answer, just steps behind him and hugs him around his waist.

"What are you doing?" he turns around inside her embrace, and looks at her curiously. She moves her long delicate arms around his neck, and kisses him slowly and deliberately, gently lacing her fingers in his short hair.

He kisses her back, even though he has no idea what just happened. His arm goes around her shoulders, pressing her body against him. He can't help it, she feels so good in his arms.

"What are you doing?" he asks again after long long minutes when they're just kissing there, standing in the kitchen, and he feels how she starts to move her arm under his shirt.

"I'm kissing you, baby" she mumbles "I thought you'd recognize the gesture by now."

"But..." he groans when her fingers play with his nipple "I thought we were fighting..."

She moves her head away, to look into his face with surprise "are you kidding me? we just made up!"

"We did?" he looks genuinely confused "when?"

"Just now" she cries incredulously "in the car."

"Really?" he looks at her thoughtfully.

"You weren't listening, were you?" she sighs "I knew it. You kept agreeing with me the whole time, I should have guessed something was not right."

"I..." he tries to deny it, but can't.

"Fine" she grumbles "whatever. I don't care. You only listen to me 73 percent of the time anyway. Actually, I'm not even surprised."

He smiles towards her, and kisses her again, moving to lift her off her feet and starts to carry her out of the kitchen.

"Bedroom or living room?" he asks a little breathless when she groans approvingly.

"Living room" she says quickly. He goes and lays her gently on the sofa, and she pulls him on top of her, her hands start to work on separating him from his shirt. he kisses her lips, and her jaw line, and her neck, and she starts to feel that warm feeling and the familiar excitement he ignites in her just by holding her close to him. She gasps at the tantalizing, demanding contact of his lips on her skin... when... suddenly, he stops.

"How could he just say it?" he looks at her questioningly, raising his head from her neck "I mean, at least, he could say that he needs to think about it, or something like that."

She looks at him with alarm "are you seriously talking about _my father_, while you're about to... you know...?"

"What?" he looks horrified "no, sorry. You're right... it's weird. I'm not really... let's go on..." she pulls him against her again, her lips swallowing his, her tongue enters his mouth, dancing violently inside it, taking his breath away. He moves his hand inside her pants, and nudges her knees apart with his leg, Then... he suddenly stops. Again. "Maybe it's a test or something. Maybe he wants to see how serious I am and..."

"_Steve!_" she cries in frustration "what are you doing?"

"I'm... nothing..." he mumbles "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... come here" he helps her to take off her shirt, and bends his head to her chest "god, you're beautiful" he whispers against her skin, before he kisses her breast, moving his tongue slowly to create wet warm trails from her nipple to her neck.

"Don't try to be cute now, and make me forget about ... oh fuck Steve..." she moans "seriously, one more word about it, and we're fighting again..." He only laughs at her pointless threat. It's really hard to take it seriously when her voice sounds so soft, and excited, and her hands pull frantically at his hair in an attempt to encourage him to keep touching her the way that he does. It works though, because there's no words anymore, only the sound of their heavy breathing and of Kono's soft groans when he makes her come.

"I think I should talk to him again" he tells her after they are able to talk again, his head still buried in the crook of her neck. She pushes him off her, and looks at him furiously, how can he still be thinking about it?

"I can't believe you're still obsessing about it" she looks at him with despair "were you thinking about it during..."

He just sighs, and pushes off of her, and puts his pants back on "I'm not obsessing about it" he declares angrily "I just can't get how it all deteriorated so much."

"Steve..." she says softly.

"I thought your family would..." he starts, watching her with some unrecognized emotion "that finally I'll have some kind of a..."

"What is it, baby?" she sits up and reaches towards him with her hand "tell me..."

He just stands there, his head bent down, his arms crossed, and she bites her tongue not to say anything, silently hoping he'd say what he feels. He rarely does, and he doesn't say it this time, either.

()()()

Finally, he mumbles something about being hungry and goes to the kitchen to make them dinner.

The minute he disappears in the kitchen, she shoots out of the sofa and searches for her phone. Then she runs upstairs, and closes herself in the bathroom, and dials the number.

She watches her reflection in the mirror with determination in her eyes. Her fingers tapping the counter as she waits for the line to connect.

"Hi" Kapali's voice is sound from the other side of the line.

"Get your brother's" she tells him quickly "all of them, and put the phone on speaker, now."

()()()

"I'm going to kill you" she tells them when they're all listening in, on the other side of the line "I'm going to kill you, and dismember you and feed your body parts to the fish."

"You're talking about Steve... don't you..." Akela is the first one to talk, in the big silence that lingers after her furious declaration.

"Of course I'm talking about Steve" she hisses "what the fuck would I talk about? I'm furious! How could you do it to him?"

"Do it _to him_?" Kapali protests "_we_ didn't do anything to him, he did it all on his own."

"He made a minor mistake..." she argues "a miscalculation..."

"He stood in front of dad, and informed him he's going to marry you" Makaio interjects.

"He didn't informed him, he asked for..."

"You weren't there, sis" Kapali interrupts "he may have _said_ he came to ask for permission, but it sounded awfully like he was officially notifying him of his final decision."

"That's right" Kale adds "I saw a war movie once when the commander there ordered all the guys in his unit to storm a German castle, and scarify their lives to save the world, and even _he_ was more polite than your boyfriend..."

"Well..." she says unsurely "it's Steve.. you know how he can get a little..."

"I'm telling you sis" Nohoki tells her quietly "I was really rooting for the guy, but when he started to be impatient and said he _demanded_ an answer, even I could see where it's going."

"He was just trying to be nice, you know him, he's a good guy... even if he screws up every personal interaction he's involved in, he only..."

"Kono, he tried this attitude _on dad_, he's either extremely brave, or extremely stupid."

"I guess he's a little bit of both" she sighs in resignation "still... you guys! you were total shitheads. He really likes you guys, he's always so nice to you, how could you not support him?"

"Kono" Akela cries "we're living with dad, and we're minors. He might give us up for adoption for something like that."

"Don't be ridiculous" she rolls her eyes at the phone "he didn't give you up for adoption when you stole Mr. Barney's car and crushed it into a tree, and killed his cat, didn't he? he knows perfectly well it's already too late to get rid of you two. And Makaio" she cries "how could you, running bets on his chances? he was really offended by this lack of confidence, you know."

"_Offended_? I was only trying to salvage the situation and make some profit from this whole mess. it's not my fault the odds were against him. I mean, if you were there you would probably have bet against him, too."

"Maybe..." she sighs, unable to fully contradict him "still, it was rude, and inconsiderate, and made him feel like you're making fun of him. Especially you, Nohoki, you know you're his favorite."

"I put my money on him!" Nohoki cries "I was the only one who backed him up. Both times..."

"Yeah, brah" Makaio says dryly "and you still owe me fifty bucks for this pathetic bet..."

"Look guys" she raises her voice impatiently "Steve is_ my man_. He's going to be your brother in law, and he can fucking kill you all with his eyes closed. So, you'd better fix everything, and tell him you're sorry, and beg for forgiveness, because, I swear, maybe _he's too good a person_ to actually hurt you, but you really don't want to test _me_..."

()()()

They don't talk about it for the rest of the evening. She talks about the case a little and he tells her about Danny's suspicions. She does the laundry, and he cleans up and takes a quick look at the garden, o the next time they meet is in the bedroom after they take their showers. She's already in bed, when he climbs into bed beside her, before he lies down he looks towards her and says "Kono, I don't want to fight, or to create problems with your family, but you know me, I can't let this one go."

"I know, baby" she sighs "you'll make hell rain down on us, ruin my relationship with my family, make Chin and Danny want to kills themselves with embarrassment and have an entire SEALs team take over my parents house, _forcing them into loving you_, before you gave up."

"Pretty much" he nods seriously as he lies down on his back "we both know, I'm a really great guy, they just need to get to know me. A military captivity survival training series is the best way to get to know someone, believe me."

()()()

She's lying down in the bed, still awake, half an hour later, when he's already deep in sleep beside her. She looks at him cautiously, hoping, but deep down inside, knowing, that he wasn't really joking.

()()()

When he opens the door in the morning, he finds all five of them standing there waiting for him.

"Howzit brah" Kapali says eventually after they all just stand there silently, watching each other.

He doesn't answer, only crosses his arms on his chest and looks at him with a penetrating look.

"Tell him" Makaio pushes his eldest brother "you're the eldest."

"I already said hello, now it's your turn" Kapali hisses.

"You, then" Makaio nudges Nohoki's shoulder "you're his favorite."

"I was the only one who didn't do anything wrong" Nohoki reminds his brother angrily "and besides, look at him... I don't think any of us are his favorite anymore..."

"Makaio, you were the worst offender" Kale says from behind them "maybe you should be the one to start with the apologies."

"_You_ mentioned twins!" Makaio reminds him "fuck Kale, the reaction we got when you said it... I mean, I never saw dad's face in that color before..."

"We're young" Akela jumps to protect his twin brother "our frontal lobe is not fully developed yet, we're actually _allowed_ to act a little foolish from time to time."

"_A little_?" their three elder brothers cries out in unison, just before they all embark on another combustive, loud, multi-participants argument.

He still doesn't say anything, jut moves his eyes from one young Kalakaua to the other. Then, he makes his decision, and pushes between them, and start running. They look at his retreating back, then at each other, for a few seconds.

"Let's go" Kapali sighs, shaking his head, so they all run after him.

()()()

It takes him longer than usual. When he's back, he's sweaty and tired, and he has mud on his shoes and on most of his legs. He looks really tired, and breathless, like he was running more than he's used to, but when she looks at him, a bit puzzled, he has his usual smug smile on his face, the one he gets when he does crazy things, but still miraculously things are going his way. He takes a bottle of water from the fridge, and runs up the stairs to the shower. She has a feeling she knows what's going on, she pulls out her phone, and dials her brother's number.

()()()

"You said he's a nice guy" Kapali protests loudly.

"He is" she tries not to laugh "he's awesome. You all fucking love him."

"He made us run the whole _Tantalus route_" he cries "it's more than ten fucking miles, and it's steep, and you have nowhere to stop there. On top of it all, he made us do it in a murderous pace. Fuck Kono, he could have got us killed there and nobody would have ever known."

"What do you mean _made you_?" she asks, between giggles "how could he _made you run_? he left the house without his weapon, did he tie you up, and pulled you after him or something?"

"No..." Kapali admits "he just... stood there, silent, and looked at us like we were the biggest disappointment he saw in his life time."

"Brilliant" she cries happily "I wonder if he got this method from mom..."

"We were trying to apologize" Kapali whines "it was like talking to the fucking wall. He started running, so we... followed... I mean, what else could we do? he looked sad, and serious... and we were really sorry..."

"I bet you all feel much better now" she says with obvious satisfaction.

"Not really..." Kapali informs her "we can hardly walk, or breath, or move, or even think at this point... it's unbelievable. We're younger, and he's... he had no problem running the whole fucking trail, and he was always in the lead, and by the looks of him, I really think he could have done another lap, just for fun. I know that he wanted to teach us a lesson, but there must be some limit to his dedication..."

"Actually there isn't" she smiles "he really has the stamina to keep exercising and moving, and touching..." she adds dreamily.

"Yuck, gross!" Kapali shouts.

"Oh grow up" she scolds him "he's a SEAL, they are all crazy like that."

"Anyway" Kapali coughs "we need to go back home now, and try to avoid mom, and try not to move too much in the next couple of weeks. He told us it's all cool, now. So I hope it's all cool with you, too."

"It is" she reassures him "you did good."

"You know, Kono" he tells her quietly "we actually are really sorry. You know we like him."

"I know" she smiles "thanks for telling me, though. It's nice to hear."

"Yeah well... we're definitely not saying it _to him_. Whenever mom talks about feelings, or during family dinners, when things get too emotional, he always looks weird..."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favored and especially for the ones who took the time and left me some words. You are so very sweet and I really appreciate it.

Please tell me what you think.

* * *

She goes with Chin to find the cars. It's a fucking nightmare. They spend the whole morning searching the parking lots of three car rental companies, two offices, four residential addresses, the airport, the beach, two national parks and a shopping center until they find seven of the eight cars. The eighth one is weird. They are looking for a commercial vehicle, big tires, heavy imprints in the dirt. Not a single license plate they have from the motel's registration is a potential origin of something like that. They sit together in the van, going over the list time after time after time, they look at each other, they have no idea where to look further.

"Maybe it's not from a car of one of the guests" Chin says "and this is why we don't have it on the list."

"Yes, but it's a big vehicle, almost like a tractor or a heavy truck" she states the obvious "I hardly think it's our killer's car. It would really stand out."

"Commercial car, that looks like it was going around the parking lot once, and made three stops..." Chin says looking at the trail of tire marks on his tablet.

"Garbage truck!" Kono cries suddenly "it's the garbage truck making it's morning round."

"Very good, cuz" Chin smiles impressed.

"Chin" she looks at him excitedly "the room was squeaky clean. What if the murderer threw all the remains..."

He looks at her with high concentration, then he starts the car. They make their way back to the motel. They have to find out which company was in charge of the cleaning and to figure out the truck's route. It's not much, it's a guess at this point, but with this unusual case, it might be exactly what they were missing.

()()()

He stands with Danny at the lab talking to Charlie. The results from the blood came back.

"The good news is that the blood is human" Charlie declares with moderate degree of satisfaction. They look at each other silently, if this is his good news, they think they'd really hate the bad ones. "The donor unfortunately..." they frown at him slightly so he changes his clinical approach "the victim..." much better. 'For god's sakes' he mumbles to himself 'they let Max get away with way worse' "is more than one person."

"More than one?"

"Look, it's hard to tell. The specimen is completely ruined, after it was bleached so thoroughly, running it through the PCR makes no sense. I had to use more conventional, old fashioned methods, and process it with staining and manual multiplications..."

"Charlie, you're starting to sound awfully similar to Max" Danny cuts him off "I really think you need a vacation."

"God, I hate it when you guys show up instead of Kono" he sighs.

"I beg your pardon?" Steve's senses are on high alert, suddenly.

"Well" Charlie looks at him defiantly "she's kind and sweet, and when she doesn't understand something, she admits it, and doesn't... you know... make rude remarks with the intent to make me feel bad..."

"Wow" Danny smiles at Charlie's uncharacteristic outburst "the kid has a point, Steve."

"Yeah, he does" Steve grumbles "especially about Kono being kind and sweet... I'm sorry, man. Please go on. We'll be quiet."

"So..." Charlie continues tentatively, looking at Steve suspiciously "as I was saying, there are more than one don... I mean, potential victims. The samples are too damaged for identification but I can see at least two, maybe three origins."

"Three?" Steve looks at Danny in alarm "we have only two missing persons we're after at this point... how can... three? you're sure?"

"I'm not sure. I still have to run some tests. There are obvious two because one is male and the other is female... but, from my experience... it looks like there might be more."

"Right" Steve sighs "good job, Charlie. It's... good job." He pulls out his phone to calls Kono and Chin, to tell them they have to extend their search, when they're back in HQ."

"What's wrong with him?" Charlie asks quietly when he's left with Danny near the computer.

"What do you mean?"

"He's... being all nice... and he actually apologized to me, and I mean, he even told me I did a good job..."

"Oh that" Danny smiles "it's nothing, don't take it personally. He's having a long and exhausting fight with Kono."

"A fight?" Charlie looks at him puzzled "what the hell is that got to do with anything?"

"He wants to marry her, her father makes him crawl and beg for it, I'm telling you, it's really entertaining. I think, at this point, he tries his best to show he's actually a nice guy. You're a childhood friend, an appreciated figure on the island, I think in his over analytic, strategic master plan, he tries to cover all his angles in case you'll be called to testify against him."

()()()

"I know exactly what you mean" she tells him, smiling gently "it's not that they are evil or malicious, or even intentionally against you, but... it's just, there's _so many_ of them..."

"Exactly" he cries "and apart from that, they have no understanding whatsoever of the concept of privacy. They all have to be included even in the most intimate discussion, and everyone has something clever to say, preferably all of them at the same time. They're crazy."

"I know" she nods, digging her fork into her salad "and you got it easy, believe me. _You_ only had to deal with her parents and her brothers, they are actually semi-reasonable comparing to her aunts."

"Her aunts?" he looks strangely at her "you mean there are more...?"

"Oh yes" she nods seriously "and they live under the impression your entire purpose in life is to ruin their lives and sentence their precious nephew to a future of torments and despair!"

"Uh... I don't..." he looks at her furious expression, as she violently attacks a piece of quite an innocent looking tomato, reliving, no doubt, a certain past encounter with the tribe.

"You'll see" she promises him "given the chance, they'll all eat you alive."

()()()

"Chin had a girlfriend before me" she explains "she was a cute little thing. Beautiful and gentle and exceptionally kind and sweet to everybody. He dated her in high school, and during his years in the police academy, and it looked like they were going to get married one day. He said they weren't really all that serious, that they were young, and it wasn't the real thing, but I think it was his gentle way to try and cover up for everybody, possibly prevent _me_ from freaking out about the whole thing, too. Anyway, after years of relationship, he brought her home to meet his mother, and Kono's mother and tutu, and the four other aunts..."

"Four other aunts?" Steve mumbles.

"I told you, it's worse than you think. Just wait, eventually you'll get to meet every single one of them."

"I can take aunts" he says determinedly "I'm good with women, they usually like me."

"No sweetie, they'll hate you on sight" she notifies him "anyway, when he brought her home they made her sit in the living room, drink herbal tea and eat coconut cookies, and started with the interrogation. The poor girl didn't know what hit her, they grilled her for four long hours, before they let Chin take her home, on the verge of tears. When he dropped her home, she looked at him once, kissed him on the cheek, and broke it off..."

"Broke it off... what..." Steve looks horrified.

"Chin came back to his aunts immediately, ready to defend his girlfriend, you know, because he's nice like that. The minute he stepped in, they were all over him, screaming and complaining and pushing him to get rid of her as soon as possible. They said she was too gentle, she wasn't strong enough, she had no ambitions, that she was willing to stay home and take care of the house and that a man like him, with his intellect and skills, should find a more adventurous and sophisticated woman. They worked on him for the entire afternoon, six Hawaiian women, pushing his buttons, and making him feel guilty for hurting his family like that. He told me he thought about going back to his girlfriend and beg her to take him back, but after seeing his aunts' reaction, he couldn't do it to the poor girl..."

"Wow" Steve shakes his head in amazement "that's... yeah... Still, they were right, at the end, weren't they? I mean he picked you, and you're exactly what they envisioned when they..."

"You think?" Malia huffs and takes a gulp from her coke "he took me to see them, the exact same group of lunatics, again, in his mother's house. Told me to be myself, to tell them about my profession, and my ambitions, and to be strong..."

"And...?" Steve looks at her apprehensively.

"They listened, very carefully, scrutinizing faces the whole time by the way, and I was very nice, spoke quietly and clearly, and used my medical conference attitude, and kept my calm..."

"And...?"

"And..? And they said nothing. Just looked at me strangely, and shook their heads in despair, then they went to Chin and told him I'll be a terrible wife, who works all the time and has no time to take care of the house, not to mention the children and that he should get rid of me as soon as he can..."

()()()

"She never took me to meet her aunts" he says after a while when they sit there silently, and Malia can swear he sounds a bit... offended.

"Smart girl" she smiles at him "she could probably see nothing good will come out of it..."

"Maybe" he says "anyway, I have enough problems as it is. Her dad is tough. I'm gonna have to use a very good tactic against him."

"Look, they are not bad people" Malia tells him again "they just a bit... well... pushy. Kono is a smart girl, she wants to keep everything quiet and under the radar and to avoid unnecessary complications. She would be fine with marrying you alone, and not even letting them know until after it happens, possibly after you two are already parents..."

"I can't" he declares "I won't. I want them on board with us, as a family, and I want them to be happy for Kono. Fuck, I'm marrying their daughter, I really want them to like me."

"OK" Malia shakes her head "then you have to make Kono work with you on this. Make her take a firm stand in front of them."

"Yeah, I know... but how?"

"I have an idea" she smiles mischievously at him.

()()()

"Where's Steve?" they ask when they get back to HQ and find Danny playing with some bags of evidences he brought from the lab "what did he mean by three victims?"

"He's on a lunch date" Danny grumbles, not even raising his head from the table.

"A lunch date?" she stops in her tracks, watching Danny in shock "what do you mean on a lunch date?"

"What?" he raises his head with confusion, hearing the warning tone in her voice "well, how else would you call it? he went out _for lunch_, with _her_, and didn't even invite me. The bastard! He even took his wallet..."

"With who?" she asks, her voice a little higher than usual.

"I think the right interrogative pronoun is _whom_." Danny notifies her "_with whom_ did he went to lunch..."

"Danny, I think you should tell me where my boyfriend is, and I really don't care which _interrogative pronoun_ you'd use. I suggest that you use a very short version, and as fewer words as you possibly can, and try to be as accurate as possible, because you really _don't_ want me to use any _interrogative measures_ on you... " she looks at him pointedly, her hand moves slowly to the gun strapped to her hip while she says it, and there's enough conviction in her voice to make him take a step backwards and think really hard about his next word.

The door opens at the exact same moment, and they all turn to look to see Steve stepping into the room, with the very smiley, and very beautiful, and extremely pregnant Malia.

()()()

"Good, you're here" he says when he sees them "did you find anything?" They don't answer just follow him as he walks swiftly across the room, and stops next to Danny "Danny, anything new at your end?" the guy only watches the cousins who move their eyes from Steve to Malia, and doesn't answer.

"Aloha, baby" Malia smiles towards her husband, and goes to plant a kiss on his lips.

"Aloha sweetheart" Chin smiles "you had a nice lunch with Steve?" he asks carefully.

"Not particularly" she muses "he took me to the worst takeout joint in the entire island. From someone who cooks as good as him, I have to say, it was quite a disappointment."

"I'm sorry" he says apologetically "I didn't realize there were so many things you couldn't eat while you're pregnant."

"That's fine, Steve" she laughs "it wasn't about the food anyway, right? all and all it was a very satisfying lunch."

There's a moment there when her last words make both cousins look suspiciously at Steve, especially when he bends down and kisses Malia tenderly on her cheek. Then, he makes his way to his office, to see if Charlie sent something, and they all just stand there looking at each other.

"You're his girlfriend" Chin tells her quietly "so, you get to shoot him. I only want you to promise me to let me hit him a a few times before you actually kill him."

"Of course" she nods seriously "it's only fair." Then they make their way to their boss's office and burst in.

"You think I should stay?" she asks Danny when the two of them are left near the smart table "it look like it's gonna get ugly."

"Well..." he says thoughtfully "you're a doctor, and there might be a few injuries... I think you're morally obligated to."

()()()

"You took her to lunch to help you plan your next move, didn't you?" she spits towards him, hands on her hips.

"I..." he looks up to see Chin and Kono standing there "I took her to lunch because she's my friend, and she's a very smart woman, who had similar problems in the past, and I thought I could use the support. "

"The _support?_" Kono cries incredulously "you're saying I'm not supportive?"

"I'm not saying it" he watches her without batting an eye "_you're_ saying it."

"Look, Steve" Chin says quickly when he sees Kono's furious expression "I'd really appreciate it if you'd keep my wife out of your... emmm... plans. We're having a baby soon, we can't afford a full scale war with the family right now..."

"Don't worry, Chin" Steve says reassuringly "she's not a part of it. She's just there for moral support and to give me some... pointers..."

"_Pointers?!_" they both say it suspiciously.

"Yeah. You know, Ideas of how to approach a few of the... key elements here, and well, she also gave me an extremely helpful background intelligence, if you have to know everything. But I promise, she has nothing to do with the actual plan. Hell, she was actually _against_ inviting Kono's parents to dinner tonight, she waited for me in the car when I did it."

()()()

"I'm going to have to move to the mainland." She whines, slumped in a chair in the main room "I'm going to find myself somewhere cold, away from the ocean, with no one around me except my overbearing husband and his egotistical pride."

"Don't be ridiculous" he tells her, looking at the list of vehicles Chin puts on the big screen "I told you, it has nothing to do with pride. So the tire marks were all checked? including the Smiths' Ford?"

"Detroit. I'll find myself in Detroit, covered with snow, surrounded by lakes, in a spitting distance from the Canadian border. That's practically living abroad!"

"When did you ever hear me talking about Detroit, ha?" he asks her with annoyance "and the garbage truck, you actually found it and checked it?"

"We'll be alone" she looks at him miserably "closed at home, with hundreds of hyperactive children, all of them look and act crazily as you, because the only entertainment we'll have is to have sex, being bored out of our minds in that freezing wilderness. Whenever we'd want to go out with them, we'll have to put them in those special coats and snow boots and it will take hours..."

"It's just dinner, babe" he tells her for the seventeenth time "your parents and us, at home. Simple food, quiet conversation. I swear I won't even mention the wedding or marriage, or anything remotely similar. It'll be fine... they'll see that I'm actually a really nice guy, and everything will be wonderful. We'll never have to leave the island, I swear. So it made four different stops after the motel, before it went to the garbage dump?" he looks at Chin with despair "so we really have no other choice but to go and look there, don't we?"

"I can't even imagine how you'd managed to invite them in the first place" she looks at him thoughtfully "I mean, are you absolutely sure they said yes? because, I don't want to hurt your feelings or anything, but there's more than fifty percent chance you didn't read the sub-textual messages they sent you..."

"There weren't any sub-textual massages, Kono" he tells her determinedly "they didn't... have the time..."

"_What_?" they all look at him questioningly, and Malia shakes her head silently from the other side of the table, holding her hand to her forehead with a sigh.

"I just... knocked on the door, and when your mother opened it, I said 'Kono and I would like you and your husband to come to dinner tonight. We'll be waiting for you at seven' then I turned around and went back to the car."

()()()

she can't speak for at least ten minutes. She just looks at him, wide eyed, pale and trembling. He looks at her carefully, a bit nervous with her overwhelmed appearance, but when it looks like she's not going to do anything crazy, like hitting him or reach for her gun, he feels confident enough to go back to the matter at hand.

"I think I'll leave you to it, now" Malia whispers quietly, as she walks to her husband and kisses him goodbye. When she steps near the smart table she sees Danny's orange nylon bag.

"Chin" she says strangely "why didn't you tell me you have a hospital case? it looks interesting..."

"A hospital case?" they all look at her "what do you mean?" Danny asks.

"This orange nylon bag" she says, picking it up from the table "this is a biohazard bag from the hospital. I would recognize it anywhere."

()()()

"Chin, Kono, you're on the bag. See who could have snatched it, check hospital personnel, suppliers, map the different floors, labs, clinics, I don't know. Show the smith's pictures around the facility, just get me some kind of connection. Danny, you're with me, we're going to the garbage dump."

"Steve" she cries after him when he's half way to the elevator "you made plans for the evening, remember? you still have to cook, and we have to arrange the house, and to prepare..."

"I got it covered, babe" he calls back "We have time, I'll have everything ready. Don't worry."

She looks back at Chin and Malia, her face pale, her brows furrowed.

"It's almost four already" she looks at the clock on the wall.

"It's fine" Chin tries, but his tone is even more grave than hers "he said not to worry..."

"I know, I heard him" she nods in agreement "you know, I really love him. I do. He's cute, and brave, and kind, and strong... and he's so hot, it's practically criminal, but..."

"_But_..." both Chin and Malia grimace with commiseration.

"Things have the tendency to crumble around us all the time. Usually it happens, when he tells me not to worry."

()()()

She's right of course. It all comes crumbling down around them.

()()()

It's already late when they get to the garbage dump. The gate is locked, and there's only one man in boot, looking after the site. They flash their badges at him, and ask him to open the gate, but he makes a big fuss about calling his manager first, and asking about a warrant, and it's getting very complicated all of a sudden. They almost give up, at least it looks like they do, because Danny gets back to the car, and turns on the engine, but apparently Steve has his issues with taking no for an answer, so this is how, when Danny looks at the rearview mirror, he sees his partner climbing on the gate, and jumping to the other side.

"What the hell are you doing?" Danny shouts from the other side of the fence "you're trespassing. In a garbage dump. You're fucking insane."

"The guy said the truck from the motel showed up four hours ago, and dumped the garbage on the north side. I'm not doing anything, I'm just looking around."

"We can look around tomorrow, when it's legal, after we get a warrant" Danny insists.

"We're already hear" Steve shouts back "it will only take a minute, I can't see what's wrooooooong..."

"Steve?" Danny cries "Steve, are you OK? open the gate" he calls to the guy.

"It's closed" the guy says "I think we already went through it..." Danny pulls his gun out, and his cuffs and says "do it. Now!"

He runs through the gate, calling Steve's name, when he reaches the north side, he sees what looks like a collapsed pile of garbage, dirt, debris and all sorts of foul smelling liquids, all over his mildly stunned partner who lies flat on the ground.

"Steve, babe, can you hear me?" he calls hurriedly, trying to make his way down the dirty, smelly slope.

"Yeah" Steve groans from beneath him "I'm fine, I guess it wasn't as stable as I thought it would be."

"Yes, babe" Danny mumbles when he reaches him on the ground "there's certainly _something_ completely unstable here, I totally agree."

"Look, Danny" Steve says excitedly "look, an orange nylon bag..."

()()()

It takes them about an hour to dig up the bag in the most careful way possible. They manage to clear all the debris from around it, to push away discarded food, and sanitation products, and garden debris. They climb out from the pit, all dirty, smelling like sewage, holding the 13 gallon bag between them.

He looks at Danny before he opens the bag, trying to keep the tie intact. Inside they find blood stained hospital scrubs, shoes' covers, and two surgeon caps. There aren't any body parts, which is both good and bad, depends how you look at it, but there are some empty hospital issued bags, and an empty 4 gallon bleach container.

"What the hell is going on here?" Steve asks Danny with confusion "we are running a murder investigation, without a body, and every time we find something it's getting more and more bizarre."

"I think we're being played, babe." Danny looks at him thoughtfully "I think it's a trick."

"I think you're right" Steve nods "but, can we be absolutely sure there wasn't a crime here?"

"I don't know."

()()()

He gets home at precisely seven forty five. He could have make it sooner, but there were some... _verbal interactions_... with Danny, about sitting in the Camaro in his present state of filth. He has to pull rank, eventually, and to promise to take the Cmaro to the car wash, and to buy Danny's lunch in the next two weeks, and he suspects it has to do with the fact that he's still resentful about how he ditched him for Malia this morning, so by the time they are able to drive all the way back, and by the time Danny drops him at home, it's already so obscenely late, it's not even funny.

He runs to the house, with a sense of impending doom, when he opens the door, he finds Kono sitting with her parents in the living room, drinking coffee. When they all turn to look at his disheveled appearance, and are hit with the awful smell that surrounds him, he can see on her face the expected "I told you so."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favored and especially for the ones who took the time and left me some words. You are all so sweet.

Please tell me what you think.

* * *

"Kono."

"..."

"Kono..."

"..."

"Kono, you're being ridiculous. Will you please answer me?" She only sends him an unfriendly look through the bathroom mirror, and keeps brushing her teeth in silence. "Kono..." he stands behind her, his hands on her hips, his lips skimming the warm skin of her shoulder "come on, baby" he whispers "I said I was sorry..." he looks at her pleadingly, she looks at him back with barely contained anger, the only indication that she actually hears his fifth attempt in apologizing is her raised eyebrow, and the quicker movement of the toothbrush. "Oh come on" he cries in frustration, moving away from her "all and all, I really think, it didn't end as bad as it could have been."

"You think?!" she shouts suddenly, turning around and throwing the toothbrush towards him. He has good instincts, so he's able to duck in time, and it crushes on the wall behind him.

"Yes" he shouts back. Relieved. At least she's talking again. Well... shouting. Still, an improvement "I think they were very reasonable..."

"Interesting" she spits, her eyes burn with rage.

"What?" he looks at her apprehensively "what's interesting."

"Your audacity..."

"My audacity?"

"Yes. Your audacity to use the word _reasonable_" she shouts again, stepping quickly towards him to pick up the toothbrush "don't forget to take your pillow from _my bed_, because you're sleeping on the couch tonight!"

()()()

"Were you _surfing_? is that why you're so tired?" Danny asks when Steve yawns for the third time, before they even finish their coffees.

"What?" he looks bewildered "no. I mean, she did, I only watched..."

"Oh, Jeez! Fuck, man! what's wrong with you? I don't want to hear these details, what are you, crazy?"

"Detai...? what...? Oh for god's sakes Danny, she really _did_ went surfing this morning, on her own. I was doing my own morning routine, and after I finished I stopped at her beach and watched her finishing her session."

"Is this a very sophisticated euphemism, here?" Danny asks carefully "it sounds like a euphemism."

"It's not a euphemism" Steve reassures him "I'm talking about actual surfing. You know she does it. She's been doing it since she was a teenager."

"I..."

"Still not a euphemism, Danny" he clarifies when his partner still looks doubtful "and besides, she's so pissed at me, she wouldn't surf with me anytime soon."

"Now, that's a euphemism" Danny cries "isn't it? or... should I still take it literally?"

"Either" Steve sighs, rising up from the chair.

()()()

They stand around the smart table for their morning briefing, but nobody speaks. Chin and Danny are looking at their partners carefully, they both look tired, and sad and on the verge of tears.

"So..." Danny drawls "how was dinner...?"

They don't answer, Kono is too busy typing something on the computer, and Steve stands with his head bowed down, shaking it silently.

"That bad ha?" Chin says gently.

"Worse" Kono sighs "much worse."

()()()

"I knew he'd be late. I fucking knew it. I mean, he only had three hours to go all the way to that dumping site, and back, and he didn't even cook yet. Which was fine, you know? at least I could have an excuse ready for my parents when they get there. They know we're cops, and that we have high caliber crimes to solve, and that there're emergencies... so when they came, _fifteen minutes early_, like I knew they fucking would, immediately I told them Steve was not in yet because he had a very important meeting with the governor about the case." She can see Chin's skeptical look when she says it "exactly" she nods "this was the first mistake. Lying to my parents, and stupidly thinking it will ever end well... so we're just sitting there in the living room, waiting, because the only other option was to go and start cooking myself, but... you know..." They all nod silently at this preposterous suggestion "so, I try to talk about things, and my dad is smiling at me, and I think to myself 'OK, he's in a good mood, everything will be fine' but the whole time I can see my mom's eyes going all over the house, scrutinizing, looking for things that might be wrong in Steve's place. She's unbelievable, she has this talent to... anyway, you remember that time when Nick Tyler shot into the house, and Steve had to fix the ceiling and to cover everything up? I mean, it took him months to make the house presentable again..." they all nod to the memory "so of course, my mom finds the _only, single, tiny bullet hole_ that he missed. You know, the one we put Grace's picture in front of? the one you can only see from a very _specific narrow angle_, and only if you step _really close_, and know _exactly_ what you're looking for? _that one!_ she spotted it from 12 feet, sitting down on the couch, without even wearing her glasses! God, I could hear her breathe with exasperation, the minute she saw it. It sounded like she's physically hurting."

"Yeah, I know this breathing" Chin sighs "it's a family skill. It's a very specific _quiet_ movement of air that can wake up the dead... "

"Yeah" she nods "that one. So eventually he arrives" she grumbles "barging through the door looking like... looking like something the cat dragged in. I'm telling you" she shakes her head at the memory "the look on my parents' face when they saw him... and he just stands there, looking like shit, and smelling like... well basically the same, and my father says "that looks like a very interesting meeting you had there, with the highest elected official of the state" and Steve just looks confused, and starts to tell everything about the garbage dump, and my dad looks at me questioningly, shaking his head in disappointment, not even listening to him when he starts to apologize. Steve just keeps talking, and steps in, and then my mom cries "are you seriously going to get in the house looking like that?!" so he stops, and looks around him, and they both look at him curiously to see what he'll do next, and before we all know it, he just takes off his shirt, his shoes, and his bloody cargo pants, and I'm thinking to myself, 'great, the perfect day not to wear boxers shorts..."

"You didn't!" Danny cries, clapping his hands in what looks like a rare combination of shock an sheer joy.

"He did" she sighs "white, tight, and... very very very small..."

()()()

"So I'm looking back at my parents, almost fainting, and I see my father raising his eyebrow with a small smile, and I think to myself, 'OK he's taking it easy', but when I look at my mom, the woman just stands there, watching him with her mouth open wide, her eyes running all over his body, and she just can't fucking take her eyes off of him."

"Really?" Steve smiles with surprise.

"This is _not_ a good thing, Steve!" Kono clarifies, sending him a threatening look "you have no idea, he simply walked in nonchalantly, and I could hear her gasp, when he walked in front of her and then she says 'well, you have to admit, the boy has his charms...' and my dad tells her "I'm right here, pilialo" and when I can't even look anymore I hear Steve saying 'I'll just hit the shower, I'll be down in three minutes' and my dad says 'he's joking right? it'll take him hours to clean up', so when Steve comes back after _exactly_ three fucking minutes and _not a second more_, and says he'll make us dinner, they practically looked... appalled... It took them two minutes to say their goodbyes, to kiss me goodnight and to take off. When we were standing at the doorway, looking at them leaving, my mom was still looking at him, smiling like a predator..."

()()()

He tries to get them focused again. He really tries. But Chin is too busy smiling like an idiot, and Kono still looks resentful, and Danny just stands there laughing his ass off, wiping happy tears from his eyes.

"The hospital" he says again, when there's a small gap in Danny's shrieks "I'm serious, will you please concentrate and tell me what you found in the hospital?"

"A break in to the blood bank, a lot of damage" Chin says quietly, trying to cough away his laughter "missing equipment including some units of blood. Look, Kono, it's not that bad, I mean it's a bit funny, even..."

"Funny?" she looks at him exasperated.

"Well... you know... maybe you can say he was drunk or something..."

"The blood bank?" Steve asks, raising his voice "that's weird. Why would someone steal units of blood?"

"Yeah, drunk, over worked, with a heat shock..." Danny tries "or... I know. A blow to the head. It's not even a lie, I really did found him buried under a mountain of filth, after he fell."

"That will do" he claps his hand on the smart table "focus guys, Danny were there used blood packs in the bag we found?"

"There might have been a few of them" Danny says thoughtfully "hey babe, show me you head, maybe we can even see a mark there."

"Danny, shut up" he warns him "I'll make a short phone call and then we're going to the lab. Chin, when she's all done with complaining about me, and is able to concentrate again, and when you are all done with amusing yourself, I want you to dig, again, from the beginning, everything you can about our missing Smiths. I want this case solved today!"

"Wow... he looks really angry." Chin says when Steve goes to his office.

"No..." she says thoughtfully "he's not angry... he looks..."

"_Smug_" Danny says.

They look at each other. They both know him so well "yes" she agrees angrily "he fucking does..."

()()()

"It worked!" he tells her the minute she answers the phone.

"It did?"

"It did. I'm telling you, you're a genius."

"Listen Steve, are you sure?" Malia tries to tame his excitement "because, we both know how sometimes you can't read the signs..."

"Kono said" he cuts her off "she said the woman bought it."

"Really?!" she smiles "well, what do you know..."

"It's you" Steve laughs "you're a wonderful tactician. God, if I knew it would be so simple, I would have done it earlier..."

"And you managed to make it look... off-handedly? I mean, it looked natural when you took off your shirt?"

"My shirt? no, no, Malia. This is a critical operation, too many things are at stake here. I took _everything_ off."

"You did _what_?! we said you're going to spill something on the shirt, and just take it off. _Very very briefly_!"

"I took it _all_ off... you said I should make an impression..." he tries to explain when he hears the mortification in her voice "I had one chance, so I made the most out of it..."

"Oh god, Steve" Malia whispers "Kono must have..."

"Yeah... she... she... didn't take it quite as well as I hoped..."

"I'm sorry, Steve. But I can't say that I blame her" Malia laughs.

"Well..." he sighs out a breath "she'll like the next part of the plan even less..."

()()()

Charlie has good news. Really good. The bag from the dumping site is no less than a crime scene investigator's wet dream. He shows them blood stained hospital scrubs, shoes' covers, two surgeon caps, used latex gloves, three empty hospital issued blood packs, and an empty four gallon bleach container.

"The blood is a match" he tells them "it matches the blood recovered in the scene. It was hard to interpret, but I'm quite sure about it. This is why we had three different _donors_..." he looks at them triumphantly, the word _donors _fits after all.

"Finger prints?" Steve asks hopefully.

"It was hard" Charlie smiles "but I managed to recover a partial from the inside of one of the gloves."

"And?" Danny asks.

"Not good enough to compare to the database" Charlie shrugs "but find me a suitable suspect, and I can make a comparison that will convince a judge."

"What about the hair? the other findings you had from the bathtub? the epidermis, the nails..."

"One donor" Charlie informs them "a female. Blonde. It took a while to get the results but... it's not in the system."

"So..." Steve looks at Danny "three units of blood, a crime scene that looks like a massacre, a thorough job trying to destroy physical evidences."

"It looks like a cover up" Danny says "the scene was made to look like a murder. The perfect murder. But I think the Smiths were trying to vanish, making us run around in circles after the wrong leads."

"I agree" Steve nods "my only question is why."

()()()

"Ron and Paula Smith. Tourists from Arizona, we concluded that from what the receptionist remembered of Ron's driving license, and confirmed it with the official records from Arizona. They arrived at the Honolulu international airport four days ago, on a Delta flight from Phoenix, rented the blue Ford at the airport, drove straight to the motel, and disappeared two days later, leaving what looks like a crime scene behind them" Chin sums up the recent events in the case.

"Yes" Kono says "we couldn't trace them on the island, so we left all the work on the victims to HPD. They issued an APB, contacted the Pheonix police department, searched in national databases, but I checked with Milai, the head of the investigation in HPD, they couldn't find anything special. Pheonix PD said they had no criminal records on the system, the neighbors didn't know anything, their house was searched, but they couldn't find any personal items, or specific clues. They kept an open file with their names on it, but since they were technically declared missing in another state, it's not even a high priority case, for them. HPD will be the one in charge of the investigation, which means... us, too."

"I think they came to Hawaii, to vanish" Danny repeats his suspicion "it's perfect. Nobody knows them here, nobody misses them, we have no leads. The scene looked like a massacre, so it was enough to get our attention, but they made damn sure to keep it obscured enough, with no actual trace to them, practically forcing us to waste precious time running around our own tail. They made sure we have their names, they made sure will know _who is missing_, and start a full scale murder investigation, but the double jurisdiction, the lack of data. It's brilliant. They made a clean getaway."

"Why Hawaii then?" Chin asks "why waste 1400$ on flight to nowhere. They could have done the same thing just by crossing the border to California or to New Mexico."

"I have an idea, actually" Kono says, hitting some keys on the computer "they were tourists right? in the busiest touristic state in the country. This is how an APB looks like in Hawaii."

They watch the screen filled with all the pictures, the news clips, the signs at the airports and seaports. They see the pamphlets given to all the car rentals operators, hotels, helicopter tours, speed boats, reservations. They see the HPD press conference, they see the governor responding to questions about the case. "I don't think this is what happens when people go missing in New Mexico" Kono drawls.

They all look at her, silently. Yes, she's got a point.

()()()

"OK" Steve leans on the smart table, looking at his team "so they're trying to escape, and make damn sure people think they are dead. Why?"

"Why else would people escape? they are criminals, probably stole something and went on the run" Danny says "after all we already know they broke into the hospital, right? they're definitely not normal law abiding citizens."

"Maybe they are the good guys, and they are just escaping from something orsomeone?" Chin suggests "they wintessed a crime maybe, they were regular people who got mixed with the wrong crowd...?"

"Ok" Steve declares "we don't know. But, they broke into a Hawaiian hospital, and stole a very important medical resource, they created a lot of bad publicity to the island and wasted a lot of money, time and effort to HPD and Five-0. It's enough for me. I want them found, I don't care how. Talk to Milai, Kono. Give her an update but tell her to keep the investigation as it is. I'm going to see the governor and explain what's going on. I want the media buzz to continue at this point, I don't want them to suspect we know what's going on."

He walks towards the door, and she immediately spits "_Danny!_" the blonde raises his head, looks up at her, and then turns to follow his partner.

"What are you doing? I need you to stay here, and start looking into the hospital break in."

"He's going with you, babe" she says from her position near the smart table, not even raising her eyes.

"He's... ?" he looks at her unbelievingly "_I'm_ giving the orders around here, Kono."

"Of course you are, baby" she smiles sweetly at him "but, after your last outburst of independence that resulted in last night's debacle, you're not moving anywhere on the island without a chaperone."

"Kono" he frowns.

"It's not a discussion, Steve" she informs him "Danny has all my relatives' addresses, he's not letting you anywhere near them, and if you make it difficult, he knows to let me know immediately."

"Danny...?" he looks at his partner with a threatening glare.

"Sorry, babe. I know what my chances are, I'm obeying _her_..."

()()()

"_No_" he says when she reaches with her hands under his shirt, while he cuts the steaks at the kitchen counter, much later that night.

"No?" she looks behind his shoulder "why not? I'm not angry anymore if that what's bothering you..."

"It's not, Kono" he shakes her gently away from him, not even looking back.

"Good then" she smiles, lacing her hands, around his waist, and kissing the back of his neck.

"I said no" he repeats "don't do that. We're not going to make out."

"You can keep doing what you're doing..." she mumbles, her lips move slowly on his strong and beautiful back "I can do most of it on my own anyway..."

"Kono" he turns around, and takes a hold of her wrists gently, and pushes her to the other side of the room "I said no, babe. I'm sorry" he kisses her on her nose, and smiles briefly at her pout "go watch TV or something. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

"Fine" she says irritated "I'll wait 'till you eat. You're always in a bad mood when you're hungry, like a three year old."

He only laughs slightly, goes back to his task, and she stands there for a few minutes, hands crossed, and wonders _what the hell is he planning now_?

()()()

She waits for him in bed, wearing his sleeveless Navy tee shirt, the one which _gets him_ _every time_. When he steps out of the shower, and sees her, lying there, with nothing but that damn tee shirt, he stops for a moment, and she can see how his eyes move all over her figure quickly. He shakes his head, smiles, and climbs into bed besides her. Before she knows it, he's already lying under the covers, with his back towards her.

"Steve..." she squeaks.

"Good night, babe" he mumbles crossing his arms, lying on his side, his eyes already closed. If he thinks he's going to refuse her like this, without any explanations, he's fucking insane.

She is so angry, she feels like she has the strength of a thousand women. Before he can even understand what she's doing, he feels the blanket pulled away, and she pushes him onto his back, straddling him, holding his wrist at his sides.

"No" he says a little breathless when she hovers above him, her lips almost touching his.

"_No_? what do you mean _no_?" she cries furiously "I want you, I want to make love to you."

"I'm sorry, Kono" he swallows hard, his eyes flicker to her sensual lips, his breath ragged under her warm body "I can't."

"You can't?" she sits up, so surprised, she lets his wrists go. "Are you hurt?" she asks suddenly, trying desperately to find an explanation. A reasonable explanation, that is. Because she has a sneaky feeling his sudden abstinence is anything but reasonable.

"No" he sits up, and pushes her gently off of him "I'm fine. Besides... since when getting hurt is actually a problem?" He's right. Of course. It's never a problem. In their short relationship he managed to keep having sex with her with dislocated shoulder, knife wound to his thigh, after being shot through his Kevlar, and after a concussion.

"So...?" she drawls "why can't you?"

"It's your fault" he shrugs, smiling a little when he sees her eyes growing wide "I have to get your attention somehow, and apparently, this is the best way."

"My attention?" she shrieks "you always have my attention!"

"Yes. Listen, baby, the deal is this, I don't expect you to do anything you don't want to do, but I'm not having sex with you, until I solve this whole mess with you father."

There's a long silence in the room when she watches him with growing alarm. He looks serious. Resolved. Stubborn.

"You'll never be able to resist" she hisses at last.

"I will" he assures her.

She climbs out of bed, stands before him, and takes the tee shirt off. She stands there in front of him, naked, beautiful, soft brown hair spills over delicate shoulders, sensual red lips, smiling mischievously, long beautiful neck moving gently, as her lithe long arms carress her perfect breasts. Her strong flat stomach, the curves of her hips, her magic center, her long legs. When she sees him watching her intently, like he is under a spell, and she can see the perspiration on his face, and the small acceleration of his breathes, she walks slowly towards him, and comes to sit in front of him on the bed, then she stands on her knees, her arms around his neck, and leans over to whisper tender, magical words in his ear.

His arms take a hold on her hips. Forcefully. Demandingly. His eyes burning blue. Before she knows it, he flips her around, drops her on her back, and hovers above her, releasing a desperate breath, his lips burning on her neck.

"I said no" he hisses, as he raises his head and his eyes lock with hers "not until I can have you properly, as my own."

"I'm already yours, Steve. You can do with me as you want. As you need" she whispers, and she can see how her words ignite another flame in him. They both look down between them, his physical response is not even a question. "Fuck me..." she growls, as he buries his head in her breasts.

"No" he exhales sharply, before he lets her go, and turns to lie on his back beside her, breathless "I'm doing it for us, baby. You'll see. It's a key part of my plan."

()()()

When he can't fall asleep even an hour later, and she's still tossing and turning beside him all agitated and restless, he jumps out of the bed, and goes to take a cold shower. It has to work, he thinks to himself, because it's so fucking hard. He knows perfectly well, it won't take him long to give in.

* * *

pilialo - wife.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favored and especially for the ones who took the time and left me some words.

**A/N2**: There's a real possibility here that I went a little overboard with the whole "surfing" euphemism. Please don't hesitate to tell me if you think I over did it. It just came out...

Anyway, a bit of seriousness in this fic, at the end.

Please tell me what you think.

* * *

"She's doing it on purpose" Steve tells him miserably when they stand in his office, drinking their morning coffees, and he's looking at his girlfriend through the glass wall.

"What?" Danny raises his head from the initial report of the hospital break in "what are you talking about?"

"She thinks she'll break me" he grunts "she thinks that eventually, I wouldn't be able to resist her anymore. She has a very low estimation of my will power, I'm telling you. She has no idea."

"Are you talking about that ridiculous boycott again?" Danny sighs, coming to stand beside him.

"Boycott?" he raises his brow.

"Yes. You. _Boycotting_ _surfing_. Tell me, is it all aquatic sports you're excluding, or are you being _surfing_ specific?"

"What do you mean?" Steve looks at him suspiciously.

"Never mind, don't answer that!" Danny shakes his head hurriedly "that was actually a very wrong and unnecessary question. I actually _don't want to know_, what counts as _surfing_ in your uncivilized way of thinking."

"Right" Steve frowns, still staring at Kono who looks like she's arguing with Chin. Come to think of it, it looks like they've been arguing since he first stepped into the office this morning.

"Anyway, you can still participate in the sport, even if you _are_ boycotting the actual matches" Danny shrugs.

"What?!" Steve looks at him strangely.

"You can still _surf_... on your own..." Danny clarifies "you don't have to boycott the entire Olympiad..."

"I'm not surf.. I'm not doing any... I need Kono" he sighs "nothing else would even... I need Kono... It's just, I've made a decision, and I'm standing my ground. There's no other way than to see this through. Even if she _does_ plays it dirty. I'm not giving in!"

"What do you mean?" Danny looks at his young teammate, who looks for a minute like she's going to kill her cousin with her bare hands in front of them "what do you mean _playing it dirty_? what is she doing? she looks like she always does, what am I missing? or rather, let me rephrase that, what do you _imagine_ she's doing?"

"Well, look at her" Steve cries, indicating to the young woman "look how she organized her wardrobe this morning, just to mess with my mind."

"Steve ,she wears long blue jeans, combat boots, and a simple white buttoned down shirt."

"Precisely" Steve declares triumphantly.

"What's wrong with... she's the image of professionalism, what the hell are you talking about?!"

"A white shirt" he glares at him, like it should be obvious, which it isn't "a white shirt, carefully ironed, with white buttons, and a collar, and two chest pockets... fuck Danny, she even added the small black sailor's ribbon..."

"I..." Danny shakes his head, almost speechless "you are out of your fucking mind. _You both are_, actually... for god's sakes Steve, it's so creepy, I would have never... I mean, when you two do role plays, I'd bet it must be... I can't even imagine..."

"Well, what do you expect?" Steve grumbles angrily under his breath "that we play cops and robbers? I mean, it would be like going to work. The whole point is to try something... even though I have to admit, the handcuffs are quite useful, but mainly we use... I mean, I have all the gear anyway, it's not that we need to find..."

He has a sneaking suspicion that he actually said all this _out loud_. Which he didn't really mean to. Especially not to Danny. But looking at her... it drives him almost insane, so you can't really blame him for losing some of his usual, and very carefully erected boundaries. "Get him fucking away from me, I beg you" he hears Danny's cry from the main room.

"What's wrong?" Kono and Chin look at him apprehensively.

"And you, young lady" Danny points at her accusingly "_you_ stay the fuck away from me, too!"

()()()

He insists on them going to check the hospital again. Even though both Chin and Kono swear there's nothing more to find there. It's their only lead, and now that they understand what they're dealing with, he wants them to look at the scene with fresh eyes. Only, Danny refuses to go with him anywhere after hearing what he believes was way too much information about Kono and about, as he puts it, '_their_ _highly disturbing sexual lifestyle'_, and Chin looks like he wants to avoid spending unnecessary time with Kono too, for some reason. When he tries to convince them, _again_, and they all start to argue, and he really starts to miss the Navy and its really effective way to handle discipline issues, Chin's phone rings, and it's Milai on the other side telling him there's a new lead from their recently issued APB.

()()()

There is no time to lose, which means that as much as he _wants to_, he simply has no time to listen to Danny's very well crafted arguments and to Chin's quiet, but firm refusal. Especially when Kono is moving her fingers slowly on her thin necklace, in a way that makes him much too absorbed with her long neck, her sensitive skin and with the idea of running his tongue all over it. He takes a deep cleansing breath, shouts his instructions, and while Kono and Danny starts for the hospital, he pulls Chin with him to the exit.

()()()

"It was a dick move, brah" Chin informs him the minute they're in the van together.

"What was?"

"Having my wife involved in this quest for self destruction of yours."

"This is not a quest for self destruction, and Malia is hardly involved" he informs him, but he looks at the road very carefully all of a sudden, as if there is something extremely interesting on the asphalt.

"According to Kono she is" Chin explains patiently "according to Kono, all her misfortunes are a direct result of my wife's interference. For heaven's sakes Steve, at least have the decency to protect her. I thought you were a man of honor, that you would protect your men, well... your women. how could you sell her out like that? you think Kono will ever forget about it?"

"I didn't sell her out. I never said a word" he protests animatedly "Malia's name was never brought up, I have no idea how Kono could have figured..."

"According to Kono you are withholding... I mean..." Chin looks lost for wards.

"Danny uses _boycotting_ _surfing"_ Steve spit dryly.

"Ooook" Chin drawls "seriously brah, this surfing metaphor is starting to get out of hand... anyway, Kono says there isn't a single scenario in which you would ever think about this kind of... mmm..." he looks at his partner thoughtfully for a second "_physical restriction._ She says she can spot Malia's fingerprints all over this lunacy. She threatened, if it's not over in the next two days, she'll make sure _I too_, wouldn't get any..."

"Malia's eight months pregnant" Steve cries in protest.

"So what?" he looks at him with confusion "It's still physically possible."

"Really?" Steve looks at him curiously "like... sitting down... or... ?"

"There's no way in hell I am ever talking to you about it!" Chin clarifies to him quickly, wearing the same expression he wears when he dismembers his fishing kill.

"Oh... right... no, fine. That's fine. It's just... well, good to know. You know, for future references..."

"Steve" Chin says coldly "focus, brah. Listen to me, start _surfing_ with my cousin in the next two days, or I swear, _there'll be no_ future references."

"It's up to her" Steve declares decisively.

"I don't care. _Surf's up_, sailor. Soon. Did you hear me?"

()()()

The hospital lead looks like a bust. _Like she said_. Like she says at least _five more times_ as they go room to room and talk, _again_, to the blood bank manager. The blood bank wreckage looks like amateur crime night with a busted lock of the door to the supply room, and the shattered glass of the freezer. The three units that were taken were unmatched and uncrossed, and were the oldest in store. They start to make their way back out from the blood bank when suddenly, Danny stops.

"They buzzed us in" he says quietly.

"Hu?"

"They buzzed us in, when we came down the corridor from the elevators, we pushed the intercom, we've waited, we flashed our badges to the camera and they buzzed us in. The other employees have cards they swipe to open the door. Look. The blood bank is at the end of the corridor, they've made all the wreckage inside, but how did they go inside the corridor in the first place?"

"You're right" she looks around her "when I came here with Chin all the area was being searched by HPD. the corridor's door was kept opened to enable the work. I didn't even notice..."

"It's pretty annoying, isn't it?" he looks at her shaking his head.

"You mean that Steve was right, and that we really should have come here again, after all?" she laughs.

"Yes" Danny sighs "I hate it when he's right, it makes him feel so smug, and he can't shut up about it for hours."

"I kinda like it when he's smug" she smiles mischievously "he always come home in a very good and creative mood."

"Yeah" Danny looks at her with contempt "about that. You go check the electronic cards' log from the entrance, I'll go see the camera footages, when we're done, and out of here, we're going shopping. I have to get you out of this shirt..."

()()()

When they're ready to go back to HQ, he lets her drive. It's weird, because they just walk out of the hospital talking about their findings, going over the possibilities, and she doesn't even notice it at first. It's such a long standing habit, he just pulls out the keys from his pocket and throw them her way, when they reach the car. She looks at him with confusion, when he takes his seat on the passenger side, without even uttering a word. Man, the guy is a wimp, she thinks to herself, it's _his_ fucking car, isn't it?

"You'll ruin everything I'm working on" she informs him when she pulls out of the parking lot "all my hard work and my impressive achievements, all will go down the drain, because of you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm trying to discipline him for a year now. Try to make him be _more sensitive_ and _polite_, and _attuned to his fellow human beings_, but because you're a wimp, who lets him get away with being an obsessive control freak, it's never going to work."

"_Because I let him drive_?" he cries, realizing what she's talking about "because I made an executive decision to keep him occupied with the wheel and the driving, instead of thinking too much, or handling his gun in a closed confined place like a car? because I'd rather have him feel masculine enough, so _maybe_ he'll be more likely _not to kill the first suspect he lays his hands on_? because this is my only way to have him sit down in one place for more than one fucking minute so he can actually _hear what I have to say_? I mean... you have a better way to make him listen? because I'm all ears... "

"Well" she says quietly, the guy just made a few very valid points "I usually do it in bed... but, yeah. Your way... that should work..."

"Right" Danny grunts "anyway, I've tried driving, with him sitting shotgun, he was so annoying, he kept giving me directions all the fucking time. I'm telling you, it made me miss Rachel for the first time in four years."

()()()

It's ten minutes later when he looks around him and sees the sea spreading under them, and she speeds the car down a big slope towards a deserted beach, that he realizes she's not going back to HQ.

"Where are we going, babe?" he asks with confusion "I thought we have some work to do."

"Yes, I know" she smile towards him apologetically "we need to take care of something first. Don't worry, we'll be quick."

"We will?"

"Yes" she looks at him sideways "we're just going to see my father for a few minutes."

()()()

Milai is a short woman. Short stature, short hair, short temper. She speaks very quickly, in five different languages, she's serious and dedicated and she's the best head of operations he had ever seen. He remembers her from twenty years ago, she remembers him. She was his father's new rookie, and later on, she was the first one to handle his mother's murder investigation, when everything collapsed around them. She'd seen everything, she's experienced, smart, and no bullshit kind of girl. She has sparkling green eyes, that hadn't changed since the day he met her, and when he sees her talking on the phone in the HPD situation room, he suddenly remembers how it was to be six years old and in love.

()()()

"Stevie" she waves him over.

"Stevie? seriously?" Chin whispers as they step towards her.

"Mention it to Danny, and they'll need another APB just for you" Steve smiles curtly. It's enough to keep Chin quiet for now.

"How are you?" she smiles when they come to stand with her at her desk.

"I'm fine" he smiles, bending over to hug her briefly.

"Your girl?"

"Beautiful, stubborn and driving me insane."

"Good for her" Milai smiles, looking at him head to toe "I'm sure, if I'll ask her, she'd say the exact same thing."

"So what've you got?"

"I've got a positive ID of your missing person. I've got Mrs. Smith in a park in Mccully Moiliili."

"Who spotted her?" Chin asks with surprise "this is a quiet neighborhood, not even close to the usual tourists' attractions."

"An off-duty cop" Milai says "he lives there. Took his kids to the park, to drive their bicycles, and saw her sitting there on a bench."

"Did he follow her? do we know where she came from?"

"He was with his kids, Stevie" Milai looks at him irritated "he wasn't supposed to."

"Yeah, I know..." he starts to apologize, even though he feels his question is more than legitimate.

"We really hope my aunt will take over his children's upbringing" Chin explains to the worried looking woman.

"That's funny" Steve notifies them "so what's the plan now?"

"I'm spreading an undercover scanning operation. I thought you would like to be in it."

()()()

Her father works in a lab. A big lab. In the ocean. When she parks the car, and they go down a sandy trail, and then on a bridge that goes from the shore to a big tower that sticks out from the water, she explains that her father is a very prestigious marine biologist. She goes on and on about oceans, coral reefs, kelp forests, tidepools, fish, oceanic mammals and so on, but he can't listen to all this when the wind, the waves and the droplets of water cover them from all over. She punch some numbers on a key pad, and the metal door slides open, revealing a narrow metal staircase, inside the dark tower. He follows her as she climbs down more and more and more, until they reach a big chamber, underwater, with big enormous glass walls. It's beautiful, and quiet and the ocean is all around them.

"It's like being in an aquarium" he whispers to her "can we bring Grace over? she'll love it."

Before she has time to answer, there's a deep, loud voice behind them calling her name. When he turns around he sees the largest, scariest, most sever looking Hawaiian man, he had ever seen. The man moves his hand slowly, takes off his glasses, and looks at Danny curiously.

"Hi dad" she smiles, and goes to kiss him hello. If this is the man Steve decided to go head to head with, there's a real possibility his partner is even crazier than he gave him credit for.

()()()

They sit near one of the tables with her father and he shows them some very interesting findings concerning a unique and rare algae he is following. Kono looks impressed, but Danny finds it hard to fake interest. Her dad is nice, and polite, but whenever he speaks it's like a rumbling thunder, that shakes Danny to the core, but when at last, he stops talking, and looks at his daughter and her friend silently, Danny feels like he would actually like to discuss these algae some more.

"So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asks quietly "did you want to talk about something?"

"It's about..." Kono starts "it's about..."

"It's about Steve?" her dad raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah dad. Look... he's really... it didn't go so well, now did it?"

"Really?" Kono's dad smiles "what makes you say that?"

"He approached the matter all wrong" she shakes her head "he should never have acted so..."

"So...?"

"Arrogantly?" Kono says cringing "rudely? like you owe him something?"

"Like he's holding your daughter for ransom, and just showed up with demands for the money?" Danny chips in.

"Really?" Kono's dad asks them, smiling "you think he should have acted differently?"

She looks at Danny pleadingly. He looks back at her, suddenly realizing what she wants him to do.

"Look, Mr. Kalakaua" he says, a bit nervous "Steve might seem..." he looks at Kono for a second "Steve might seem a little harsh, and rough around the edges, but it's only because he's passionate about the things he loves. Unfortunately, the things he loves are guns, getting involved in dangerous, ill directed and stupid acts of bravery and your lovely daughter." He looks over at Kono again, her face are red, and her eyes sparkle in this special light she has there whenever Steve is in the room "he can't survive without her. He has to have her" Danny continues "and he has a very twisted logic, so he'd decided to involve you in his self preservation plan."

"Kono" her father says gently "I already know that he's rude, and reckless and basically out of his mind..."

"No" Kono cries, kicking Danny under the table warning him to shut up "he's nice, brave, kind and always very supportive..."

"He is, actually" Danny says quietly "he has a pure heart, high morals. He's strong and protective, and he'll die before he'd let anything happen to her."

"Detective Williams" her father looks down at him "would you like to marry him, instead of my daughter?"

"Please dad" Kono smiles when she sees Danny's shocked expression "I've already decided I want to marry him, can we just forget about his... recent performance?"

"_Performances_!"

"It's actually in your best interest" Danny adds "if you'd keep saying no, he'll continue to do stupid stuff to try and convince you. I think you have other things to do rather than constantly fighting off Steve McGarrett..."

"Fine" her father shakes his head eventually "I'll hear him one more time. Tell him I'll meet him."

"Yes... about that..." Kono drawls quietly "can we, maybe, say it was your idea?"

"You want me to keep this conversation out of it?" her dad looks at her smiling "fine. Give me his number."

()()()

They call him for an update, when they're back in HQ. She tells him what they found in the hospital. She explains that they saw Paula Smith entering the corridor, and swiping a card at the door to the blood bank. The log showed an old access card, that was supposed to be inactive. Paula Smith was never an employee there, so they have to search the hospital's records to see who held this card in the first place. The list of employees is not available, after a recent update to the HR system. Danny and her have to go over the list manually, and compare the pictures to the one they have of Paula Smith. It's the kind of assignment Danny hates, and he keeps telling them that all through the conversation.

He explains about Milai's news. Explains that Chin and him are working with her, but that it's going to take time. It's a long, boring wait in a single location, it's the kind of assignments Steve hates, but he sound like he's in a good mood, which is quite unexpected. Before she hangs up he says happily "your dad called."

"He did?" she says seriously "was he angry about my mom? did he threaten to kill you?"

"No" he says smugly "he wants to meet me."

"You should take backup" she says "just in case. Possibly a gun. Maybe two."

"Don't be ridiculous" he says quickly, even though she can hear he's a bit shaken by her suggestions "I think he wants to negotiate a truce, actually. Maybe to talk about some kind of long stnading arrangement."

"Yeah?" she asks dubiously.

"Yes, I won" he tells her with his usual arrogance "first your brothers came to apologize, after they realized they actually liked me, then your mom showed more... _enthusiasm_, and now your dad comes around."

"OK" she smiles "you won them over. You're amazing. You're practically a modern version of Julius Caesar."

"More like Genghis bloody Khan " Danny chimes in from his corner.

"So..." she ignores the resentful detective "does it mean I get to _surf_ with you again?"

"No, babe" he says decisively "not until I get his permission."

"Steve" she protests loudly "what the hell?!".

"Sorry, babe" she can hear him smiling on the other side of the line "at this point of the game, I still need my leverage."

()()()

"Steve" she whispers when they're in bed later that night, and he, again, as a self preservation measure positions himself on his side with his back towards her.

"No, Kono" he sighs "not until it's all over. I'm sorry."

"I know" she whispers again "I just want to talk." She can see how his shoulders tighten for a moment, when she says it. It's his usual response to this sentence, and it's so expected, it makes her smile. Especially when she realizes, he must think it's some kind of trick to catch him off guards "Steve" she whispers again, even more gently.

"What?" he repeats.

"Steve, turn around, my love. Please."

There's a quiet plea in her voice. An innocent, gentle and clean request that finally makes him turn on his other side, and look at her. They both lie facing each other, under the bright moonlight that shines through the window above them.

"Kono..." he starts, but she says "shhh" and sends her small hand to touch his cheek gently.

"My darling boy" she whispers "my love" her eyes travel on his face, her finger on his lips, on his cheekbone, on his jaw. He can't speak, can't think. He feels how his throat tighten with overwhelming emotion, as she caresses him gently. "Why is it so important?" she asks quietly, her eyes locked with his, her hand warm against his skin "you never care about what other people think, you always do exactly what you want."

"It's not the same" he whispers.

"Why?" she insists "I'm yours no matter what, you know that. My family... they make a lot of noise, but they already know I chose you. It's not going to change anything."

"That's not the point, Kono" he murmurs, closing his eyes briefly.

"What then?" she insists, her hand in his hair "tell me, my beautiful boy. What is it?"

"We just broke" he tells her eventually, and his voice is so low, she has to struggle to hear "one day we were fine, and the other one she was dead and it all fell apart. I found myself... I was sent away from home, away from Mary Ann, away from him. It was..." he closes his eyes for a second "I didn't realize how weak and fragile life were, until then. I spent almost twenty years trying to get stronger. I had to... I had to count on myself you see, to be strong, self reliant, I had to be the one calling the shots, never let anyone tell me... force me... my family became, we were like planets roaming around, without any center of gravity, so I became my own center of gravity. And I was fucking good at it." She can see him blinking rapidly, feel his jaw clench under her touch. She moves her fingers on his temple softly. "So when my father died, I thought... It was like everything was about to happen all over again. I mean, when Mary Ann didn't show up to the funeral, I wasn't even surprised... the mere thought of doing it all over again, with her, was... but it was different. You see? I was home again. and suddenly the sun looked right, the air smelled right, the ocean... even this house... and Five 0..." He looks at her with burning eyes, wishing her to understand "when I found _you_" he whispers "for the first time it didn't feel... _dangerous_ anymore. Things were starting to fall into place. Mary Ann was back in the picture, there was good life outside the Navy... I've discovered how you feel when you find the one who..." he shakes his head "I need to know that it's strong enough. I need to know that it can't be broken again. I have to know that we have the proper backup, that our children will."

"My darling" she whispers, moving closer, both her hands on his cheeks, her thumbs skimming his beautiful lips "my sweet, beautiful boy."

"Kono, I..." his chokes.

"I know, my love" she smiles, behind her tears "I know."

He presses her against him, his breath hot in her hair, his strong muscular body closes around her, like he's trying to consume her. She surrenders to his big, protective, desperate hold on her, listening to the sound of his beating heart under her ear.

()()()

"I'm still not going to have sex with you" he groans after a few minutes, when she slides her arm around him, her hand starts to roam under his shirt.

"Great" she grumbles into his chest "just my luck. I had to fall in love with the most stubborn man in the universe..." his scent, his touch, the feeling of his skin on hers, it's driving her mad, but when she hears him laughing, and feels his body shaking around her, she doesn't care anymore, she just buries herself deeper into his warmth.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favored and especially for the ones who took the time and left me some words. This is the last chapter of this fic. I hope you'll like the ending. Until the next time...

Please tell me what you think.

* * *

()()()

"We have a name" Danny cries "Paula Roberts. Formerly, a hospital employee. She worked in the supply room, and was in charge of all facility transports." He keeps moving his hand on the smart table, in rapidly growing frustration, but nothing happens "oh for the love of... will the damn thing just... Kono!"

"It's her" Kono cries when she moves to his side of the table, elegantly throwing the picture on the big screen.

"Yes, it is" he frowns at her efficient movement "she's younger here, but it's the same person. Come on" he smiles "let's find an address, maybe we'll have a new lead for Steve and Chin."

()()()

They find an address. It's the address Paula wrote on her job application at the hospital, five years ago. It's a small condo, which belongs to a condominium society, and it's in the right neighborhood, four blocks from the park, where she was spotted a day earlier. They call Steve with the information, while they make their way out the door. Chin and he are already in the area since morning, following Milai's operation from up close.

()()()

"Danny..." she says quietly when they drive in his car to the scene.

"Yes, babe?"

"Do you think he was... do you think I handled it wrong?"

"Well, babe..." Danny smiles when he sees her worried expression, realizing what she's asking "do _you_ think you handled it wrong?"

"I thought he was just being crazy. I thought he was being his old _control freaky self_, trying to micromanage everyone around him, and push them to do what he wants. I was really upset with him for trying to pull this shit with _my parents_, I mean, let's face it, they're not the most... patient parents in the world, and besides, they've already been highly suspicious about him, especially after he showed up to our first family dinner together, with a big shiner, a splint and a tight tee shirt that didn't even cover half of his tattoos..."

"Oh yes" Danny smiles "I remember. It was when we tried to catch those gun smugglers, and they started shooting, and he tackled one of them, and they both fell off that bridge... I told him to change first, but he said he had no time. I really think he was concussed that time, too..."

"He wasn't being crazy" she mumbles.

"Oh, I think he was..." Danny rejects her assessment.

"Not _then_" she rolls her eyes "of course he was being crazy _then_! He should have just shot him, instead of trying to climb that bridge without proper backup. He had a clear shot; he just needed a little more patience. I told him, repeatedly, you don't have to engage yourself in a hand to hand combat with _every single scumbag you see_!"

"Babe, you're rambling. I have no idea what you're talking about anymore."

"What?" she looks at him a bit confused "oh yeah, right. I'm talking about now, with that awful marriage business, and my parents and that ridiculous permission he needs."

"Go on..."

"He wasn't just being crazy, you know. He was..."

"Yes?"

"It's really important to him. I didn't understand at first. I mean, I know there's a limit to my amazing ability to read his subconscious transmissions, but still, I should have been more sensitive to his needs."

"Babe" Danny smiles gently towards her "what the hell are you talking about?"

"He must feel all alone, you know? Probably feels like he has to fight for my family's attention, and that I'm only annoyed with this stupid battle. He must think I don't care. This whole sex... I mean, _surfing restriction_, he probably felt like I was _against him_ or something."

"You got him the meeting with your father didn't you?" Danny looks at her kindly "and I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with controlling your countless crazy siblings, as well."

"No... I didn't" she says quickly "well… he was so happy when they came to see him, and when my father called..." she looks at Danny's amused expression and exhales sharply when she realizes she'd been busted "you think we can keep it between us? The part in which they needed some... encouragement, I mean."

"Sure babe" he laughs "but if you keep withholding this kind of information from him, even if _you do_ do it to support his highly exaggerated sense of self accomplishment, this way he would never know that you're actually on his side."

"There must be a way to show him" she looks at Danny hopefully "to show him how I feel, but still keep him happy and _self reliant, _all at the same time."

"There is" Danny looks at her strangely "there's a great way, but I don't think you'd like it."

"If it'll work" she says decisively "I'll do anything."

()()()

They gather around the building, closing in slowly from a few directions. Milai is a master planner, she manages to arrange for a concealed team in the garden, and to have them pose as a gardening company workers. Then she brings another young cop and has him dressed up like a UPS delivery guy, the plan is for him to get access to the upper floor apartment, and let Steve and his team inside.

"They might be armed, and dangerous" Steve explains to the teams around him "we still have no idea what we're up against, but everything they did so far had an air of desperation around it. I want all of you to expect anything."

"We'll have a visual on the hallway, and the stairs" Milai tells him "but not on the apartment itself. Maybe we should have another visual on the windows, too?"

They look at the map of the building. The apartment is on the third floor. There are three windows facing the backside of the complex, and a big living room window, facing the street.

"Kono?" Steve shows her the blueprints "what do you think?"

She looks up at the building, and then at some other potential elevations in the area "give me five minutes" she tells him "I'll take position on one of the roofs."

She gets her sniper rifle from the back of Danny's car, and runs to the other side of the street, disappearing in the doorway of one of the buildings. Five minutes later, when they all put on their Kevlars, and Chin and Danny are ready to follow him towards the building, they hear her on the com saying "thin white curtain, glass is closed, I can see two targets sitting in one place, shouldn't be a problem."

"Stevie" Milai says quietly when they prepare to go "be careful, please."

"Don't worry" they hear Kono on the com "he knows, if he tries to do anything reckless, I'll bloody well shoot him, too!"

()()()

They ram the door, a minute later. When they break in, they find the missing Smiths standing in the living room, watching them in alarm."Five 0" Steve barks towards them "hands on your heads, turn towards the window, and don't move." They do as he says, standing near the living room window, and he makes his way towards them, hearing Chin and Danny's reassuring calls that the rest of the apartment is clear. He pulls out his handcuffs, and moves towards the husband. Danny comes from the kitchen and turns to do the same with the wife. Suddenly she bends down and pulls a small gun from an ankle holster on her leg. Chin who comes from the bedroom, makes her jump in surprise, so when Steve tries to move towards her, she's already too tense, she points the gun towards him and pulls the trigger. There's a small whistling sound and the clear sound of a glass breaking, when Kono's bullet hits Paula Smith.

()()()

She sends a well directed bullet right to her right shoulder, and the woman drops to the ground screaming. When Ron sees it, he tries to push against Steve, so he has to punch him in the gut, and he crushes to the ground beside her.

He grabs the stunned looking man by his collar, and throws him towards Danny.

"No" Danny cries when Steve opens his mouth, already half way pronouncing the words "don't say it, I beg you..." there's an obvious disappointment on Steve's face, as he looks at his partner quietly, thinking what to say.

"Oh, just book'em Danno" they hear Kono's irritated voice on the com "why do you make it so difficult for him all the time? he's tensed enough as it is, will it kill you to let him enjoy himself a little bit?"

"It's unbearable, man" Danny mumbles when he sees Steve's proud smile "she's saving your ass, defending your honor and fighting your battles for you. You should fucking marry her, why don't you..." He adds when he pulls the suspect up from the floor. His last sentence is quite effective, in making Steve's smile disappear.

()()()

They make them sit on the sofa, and Danny calls the medics to come look at Paula's shoulder. The couple is quiet. They just sit there, looking at the floor, while they all stand around them.

The medic makes an initial dressing of Paula's wounded shoulder, and they start to prepare to take her to the hospital.

"OK" Steve says "you can take the woman, but the man goes with us to HQ for interrogation."

"No" Paula cries "it's entirely my fault. Leave him alone. Please."

"Look" Steve sighs "this whole mess looks pretty bad for the _both of you_. If you'd cooperate now, there's might be a way for you to gain some trust."

"Don't tell them anything" Paula cries, when the EMT starts to help her on the gurney.

"Sweetheart, we have to talk to them..." her husband sighs "he's right, it already went too far."

"It's entirely my fault" Paula cries again "leave him alone. It was my idea. All of it was."

()()()

There's a certain degree of desperation in the couple's faces that makes Steve think carefully on the next step. He looks at Danny questioningly, trying to see what his take of the situation is. He trusts the guy's instincts more than anything, so when Danny nods silently, he makes his decision.

It's two hours later when they all sit in the hospital together, the four of them, and the Smiths to talk about everything.

()()()

"It was all _my fault_" Ron starts "I should never have taken that job. I'm an accountant. I worked for a big accounting firm for years, but two years ago when we started to think about a family, maybe leaving the city, I left the firm, and opened a new independent office of my own. At the beginning it was fine. I had good connections, I was dedicated, very familiar with small businesses owners, but gradually, with the economy... we were struggling. You see? I couldn't find enough clients, and soon the bills were piling up. When we found out that we were having a baby..." he drawls, looking at his wife "I couldn't say no you see? Even though I knew they were trouble. When Vince Clements came through the door... I couldn't say no."

"Vince Clements?" Danny raises his eyebrows "the Philly boy?"

"Yes" Ron nods solemnly "it took me a while until I realized who he was."

"Vince Clements" Danny explains to the rest of the team "he was one of the heads of the organized crime in Philly 5 years ago. It was messy, a lot of territorial wars, for years, until a very extensive cleaning operation by law enforcement drove him away from the city. We had a lot of intelligence about him in Jersey, back in the days. We were worried he'd be moving east, to work with his cousins, but the guy changed his minds, and based himself somewhere else."

"He moved to Phoenix" Ron nods "and made a name for himself very quickly. He came to me because I had a small office, I was easy to control, and I couldn't tell anyone. I worked for his organization for almost 7 months until it happened."

"What happened?" Steve asks, looking at the guy. He looks exhausted, and he keeps looking desperately at his wife.

"I got sick" Paula whispers "I was in the hospital for weeks. I lost the baby, I had to stop working. Then the chemotherapy... the bills were killing us... there was no way we could ever survive it. It was ridiculous, even after I was well enough to find some temporary position in a department store... we never had a chance" she looks at her husband, and he continues to talk "I took money. I had to. We were about to lose the house, and Paula was not fully in remission yet. So I've created a new account, and took 15% from different payments he had, most of them from illegal gambling and prostitution that I was supposed to clean up for him. We paid the hospital debt, we made three mortgage payments, and then... then he found out."

"We had to run" Paula says from the bed "it was clear from the start, if he'll find us, we're dead. We had to think of something, and to do it quickly. One evening we were watching TV and there was a commercial for a Hawaiian vacation. Then I knew what to do."

"You faked your own deaths" Kono says.

"We tried" she smiles bitterly "we left the house with nothing, went to the airport and took the first flight to Honolulu. We spent two days in the motel, and made sure the receptionist will remember our looks and our names. Then we made our inglorious disappearing act."

"Yes, we know about the rest" Danny shakes his head "the break in to the blood bank, the manipulation of the scene in the motel room..."

"I made sure to steal only the oldest blood units there" Paula explains "I wanted to make as less damage as I could."

"Look, we know it was wrong. We know we caused damage, we committed a crime, and we had you all running around after us..." Ron says, looking at them steadily "but it was all my doing, I'll pay the price willingly. Just please, let my wife go. She'd suffered enough."

"It's not that simple" Chin says quietly "we have her on tape breaking in to the blood bank. We have your confessions for committing quite a few felonies both in Arizona and here on the island."

"Please" he whispers, looking at them with despair "she's all I've got. I almost lost her once; please... don't let me lose her again."

()()()

"OK" Steve says decisively after a long charged silence "there might be a way out of it."

"There is?" the Smiths look at him hopefully.

"There is?" his teammates look at him too.

"We'll help you disappear" he tells them "we'll have a big loud press conference, declaring we found your bodies, identified you beyond doubt and we'll make sure the rumor get to Arizona, too."

"You will?" Paula asks doubtfully.

"Yes, we will" he nods, his arms crossed, as he paces back and forth in the room "as long as you'll testify."

"Testify?" Ron looks apprehended.

"Against Vince Clements. Expose his money trails, his criminal acts, the whole thing."

"He'll kill us. We'll be running for our lives again."

"I'll get you new lives" Steve says quietly "I can... I have friends..."

"I don't have my books, and even if I did..." Ron says, shaking his head "I only have information about the money. I mean I can possibly give you some information about his local dealings and his daily operation. I can link him to some financial fraud felonies, but not the really heavy stuff like murders, and drugs... I already thought about going to the FBI, but I've been an accountant long enough to realize, they will not make a big sophisticated deal for what I've got."

"I realize that" Steve says reassuringly "this is why I'm not going to talk to the FBI. I'm going to talk to the ATF. We'll tell them you have information about weapon's deals. Assault rifles that went from Philly to Phoenix, and from there to Texas. Maybe mention some transactions across the border. You know, with... Mexico?"

"But _there is no_ such information..." Ron looks at him like he's crazy. Actually, they all do.

"I know that, you know that" he explains patiently "_we all_ know that. We'll have to make sure the ATF will know it only _after they sign the deal_."

()()()

"You're going to lie to the ATF?" Danny asks later when they all huddled in the corridor, waiting for Paula to be discharged by the nurse.

"I wouldn't necessarily call it lying" he drawls carefully.

"Oh really?" Danny looks at him with contempt "how would you call it then? Because, as far as I can see, you are _definitely_ not going to tell them _the truth_."

"I'm just going to _suggest_, that there's a potential here. A potential for the _biggest case they've seen in the last decade_... it's more like a… very optimistic estimation. You know... like, _wishful thinking_."

"You're going to tell this to your friend, right? That guy Michael? Another one of your old SEALs buddies you keep milk favors from."

"No" Steve shakes his head "We served together in Annapolis, but we're definitely _not friends_. And he's not a SEAL, he's a fucking Marine. I'm actually supposed to fuck him over, it's a long and respected Navy tradition."

"You're out of your mind" Danny informs him dryly "you're going to knowingly lie to the federal government. I think it's considered an act of treason."

"You've heard them. They were afraid, and they were trying not to hurt anybody... and they were loyal to each other. And I took an fucking oath to protect the weak, and to help the…"

"Shut up, Steven" Danny says to him, as he turns away and walks towards the exit "I only said you were crazy, I didn't say you weren't right."

"I'm more worried about the story you're going to sell the governor when you ask him to hold a press conference describing the gruesome death of two innocent tourists in the middle of the busiest tourists season" Chin says as he walks back to the room to pick up their witnesses "I have a feeling we're all going to pay for it big time…"

He looks at Kono with an offended frown "Ok, now tell me what you're worried about?"

"I'm not worried" she shrugs, walking towards him, and stopping so close to him, he can feel her hot breath on his neck "I think you're wonderful. I love you. Too bad you're still in that ridiculous no surfing zone, because I would gladly show you how much, right here on the floor..."

It takes him a few seconds to remember how to breathe again. But by the time his brain is capable of producing a semi coherent response, she's already walking down the corridor, on her way out.

()()()

"Ok, I'm off" he says three hours later when they all done with the telephone calls, the press, Milai's debriefing, and their witnesses have already been escorted to a secured location.

"Are you going to change?" she asks, looking at him worriedly.

"Wasn't planning to..." he looks down on his casual wear, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I don't know..." she tilts her head thoughtfully "maybe, at least, wear a dress shirt?"

"Kono" he reminds her "this isn't a date."

"Right" she scoffs "like you'd ever dress up for a date..."

"I..." he tries to think of an example "we didn't really go on any dates, babe so... hey Danny, please tell her I look fine as I am."

"You look fine" Danny says obediently from the other side of the smart table, not even looking up "very handsome."

"You're not even looking" Steve tells him accusingly.

"Don't have to" Danny mumbles "I already know you're an extremely attractive man. Here, if you don't believe me, you can ask Kono."

"Chin?" she asks when Steve looks at her triumphantly.

"Yes cuz?"

"Do you think he looks fine?" she asks dubiously.

"Is he clean?" Chin asks levelly.

"Yes..."

"Does he have his clothes on?"

"Yes..."

"Good. I think your father will see it as a major improvement. Stop fussing around him and just let him go."

()()()

He parks at the beach, and makes his way down the sandy trail towards the lab. When he reaches the coast line he sees her father standing in what looks like a makeshift lanai, near the water. He steps over, and the big man turns towards him, handing him a beer. Then they sit on two wooden chairs that he has there, just looking at the sunset together.

It's a long long time that they sit like this, silently on the beach, looking at the pink sky, and following the gentle move of the ocean. It's nice. The beer is good. He looks at the older Hawaiian man beside him, he looks calm, so he simply starts talking.

"I'm sorry sir" he says seriously, turning towards him on his chair.

"You are?" her father looks at him amusedly "what for?"

"I know I made a fool of myself" Steve coughs slightly "I came out a bit strong, and I was inappropriate, and..."

"You were?" her father looks at him with surprise "who told you that?"

"Well... Kono did. And Danny... and I think Chin alluded to it too, it's really hard to know what the guy thinks most of the time..."

"They have no idea what they're talking about" her father cuts him midsentence, before returning to his beer.

"I'm sorry?" Steve almost chokes on the spot.

"Look Steve" her father smiles at him "I love my daughter. She's important to me. We both know the other five are practically juvenile delinquents, so basically, she's the best one I've got."

"She is" Steve nods firmly "she's..."

"So obviously I'd be extremely protective. What father wouldn't be?"

"Of course" Steve nods in agreement "I have a sister, I know how you feel."

"You have to agree, that on first impression you're not the most... _promising_ boyfriend she could have brought home with her."

"I..." Steve tries to defend himself instinctively, but can't find even a single suitable argument.

"You're ten years older than her, you're impolite, capricious, do dangerous things, makes her do dangerous things, too... OK, let's face it" he sighs "you're a fucking haole with suicidal tendencies and tattoos!"

"I can see your point" Steve cringes a little "even though, I was sure you all got used to me by now. I mean, we've been together for a long time. She's happy, I... you must know I will never hurt her. She's the only one... my only reason..."

"I know Steve" her father smiles "I know you love her. It was never the question. Even though, when I'm thinking back, you two never touch each other in public, never talk in an intimate way when there're people around."

"It was _my_ decision" Steve says quietly "I had enemies, I wanted to keep our relationship quiet, to make sure she's protected. And besides, we are known here on the island, people are talking. She doesn't give a shit about rumors and HPD gossip, but I didn't want to make it worse, I mean, her career is very important. I know you are all very... eemmm... _expressive_ in your family, but I'm... I never was so big on public display of feelings. I hope you can see, she seems to be OK with the way we do it..."

"It's fine Steve. I promise you. It's actually quite noble of you."

"So..." Steve looks at him questioningly "when I came, why did you say no?"

"I had to" he shrugs "you barged into the house, frightened the family half to death, started giving orders around, what kind of man does that?"

"I was... I really wanted it to work" he explains "but perhaps I took it a little bit _too far_" he admits reluctantly.

"It would have been fine" Kono's father tells him "if I could only understand what the hell you were talking about."

"What?" Steve looks at him worriedly "I thought I made it clear, I needed your permission to..."

"Steve, Kono is a strong, smart and independent woman. She's been doing whatever she wanted since the day she started walking. I trusted her when she went to surfing competitions on the other side of the globe, I trusted her when she joined the academy, I trusted her when she chose a profession where she'd be shot at on a regular basis, why the hell would you need my permission? it's _her job_ to tell you yes or no."

"I..." Steve looks at him dumbstruck. So that what it was all about. His hard headed girlfriend's overly independent spirit. "Well..." he says quietly "she said yes. She's quite comfortable with the whole marriage idea."

"So" her father shrugs, looking back at the sea in front of them "I have no idea why you had to make it so complicated. Welcome to the family son. Now, can I get you another beer?"

()()()

When he gets home she's not in the living room. It's late, but when he runs up the stairs she's not in the bedroom or in the shower, either. He runs back down, and takes a peek at the basement but it's dark and empty, too. When he hears an angry "come on, you stupid machine, just work already." From the kitchen, he steps in there smiling, finding her lying on her back under the sink.

She wears very short jeans shorts. She's barefoot, her long legs stretched on the floor under him, allowing him to follow the silky skin with lust filled eyes. When she moves, and her top rolls up little, slightly exposing her flat stomach, he gets a quick refresher on the fact that she's the sexiest creature he'd seen in his whole fucking life.

The fact that she's lying half naked, on his kitchen floor, cursing like a sailor, doing manual labor, almost makes him drop on his knees, even before he says hello.

"What are you doing, babe?" he asks, his voice hoarse, his tongue absentmindedly sticking out, trying to wet his suddenly overly dry mouth.

"_Steve!_" she calls from under the sink "you're back. How was it?" there's a noise of tools clattering when she says it, and she moves, trying to get out from under the counter, but she must be trying to do it a little too quickly, because she bangs her head on the pipe or something, and he can hear the muffled cry from beneath him "oh for the love of g... this stupid apparatus. I told you it wasn't installed right. It keeps getting stuck all the time. We should never have put it in, in the first place."

He grabs her bare ankle, his hand big and warm on her delicate limb. He pulls her towards him quickly without any warning, and hears her gasp in reaction. "Were you trying to fix the garbage disposal?" he asks strangely, his voice deep and husky, his eyes stop on her now, fully exposed abdomen, as her shirt slides upwards on the floor.

"Yes" she says quietly, sensing the familiar demand in his eyes "it got stuck again." But it doesn't look like he's listening, he just moves his eyes to her breasts, making her breath catch in her throat. She is very much aware of his hand that caresses the bare ankle he's still holding "so..." she whispers, her heart beating fast "how did it go? Was he nice to you? Did you talk? Is everything alright?"

He only smiles, to her questions. Finally looking at her face. It's his regular, loop side, cute, sweet, little smile. The one who has that boyish, triumphant, enthusiastic quality to it. The one that he sends her when he's really really happy. The one that melts her heart every single time.

She wears these ridiculous shorts, her hair is spread wildly around her head on the floor, the kitchen is a mess, full with tools, and dirty dishes, and small pools of water... but apparently he doesn't seem to care. He slides his hand on her leg, slowly, as he hovers above her, the next moment, his mouth is on hers. His hands are pushing, demanding, exploring every inch of her body… Her moans are filling the room.

The boycott is over right there, in the kitchen, on the floor, in a very clear, loud, and exhaustingly long way.

()()()

It's two days later, on the weekend, when they have lunch all of them together in her parents' house. They sit at the big table, Steve, Kono, the excessive amount of Kalakauas, Chin and Malia, Danny and Grace. He actually manages to cook this time, and he is very busy talking about different recipes with her mom and her tutu when he suddenly sees how weird she looks, beside him. He's sitting at the head of the table, and she sits to his left, and she suddenly starts to breathe deeply, to rub her hands on her jeans, and to swallow nervously a few times. He stops talking, and is just about to ask her if she feels sick or something, but before he has the time, she gets up of the chair and bends down.

He bends down too, and looks under the table.

"Hey babe, what are you looking for?" he asks curiously, looking carefully under their chairs.

"What?" she looks at him with surprise, when his head appears beside her.

"Did you drop something?" he raises his eyes towards her, seeing her face reddening as he speaks.

"What?! Of course I didn't. What... for the love of... will you please sit up straight?" she barks at him irritated.

"Sit straight?" he looks at her puzzled "what the hell is the matter with you? I'm only trying to help."

"Will you…" she looks even more annoyed "god Steve, just sit up, and… just don't talk for a second" she tells him quickly "I knew it was a bad idea" she mumbles "there's no way you're cut out for this shit…"

"Cut out for what?" he frowns at her "what's wrong with you, anyway? And why are you sitting on the ground?"

"Steve, just..."

"What?" he asks worriedly, suddenly very aware to the fact that everyone had stopped eating and are watching their argument.

"Steve, we've been..." she swallows hard, and her voice sounds a bit shaky "it's been…"

"What are you doing?" he asks with growing alarm.

"Shut up" she orders, before moving a strand of brown hair behind her ear "Steve" she starts again after a long deep breath "we've been together for…"

"Kono" he says a little choked up "why are you on your knees?"

"For crying out loud, this is fucking amazing" she cries desperately "I'm telling you, I deserve a medal for being so patient with you…"

"Language Kono..." her mother says from the other side of the table.

"Yes, right. Sorry mom" she smiles sheepishly.

"What is this, Kono?" he asks again, his blue eyes locked with her brown glinting ones.

"Steve, we've been together for a year now" she smiles at him tightly "and it was the best year of my life..."

"Kono, you don't have to..." he whispers.

"I really do, sweetie" she sends her hand to his cheek for a second "I mean, after making you jump through hoops for me in the last couple of days. Will you please be quiet for once in your life, and let me finish...?"

"Babe..." he breathes.

"As I was saying" she straightens her posture on the ground in front of him "we've been together for a year now, and this was the best year of my life. You are my best friend, and my true and only love, even though you _do_ drive me crazy most of the time…"

She looks at Danny for a second and he mouths "life, children…"

"Oh yeah, right!" her face lights up in recognition "I want to spend my life with you, I want you to be the father of my children, and... and…"

"The ring" Danny whispers.

"Yes!" she cries triumphantly "I bought you a ring, too." She scrambles to take out a small velvet box from behind her back, holding it proudly in front of him "but… you don't have to wear it, really, it's fine, I only bought it because that's what you're supposed to do… and I realize, you do have to be able to handle guns, and to punch people, and I guess you'll probably find it too tacky or even a little girly, or… and I don't think they let you, in the SEALs I mean, so don't worry if… it'll make no difference, it's fine. Really."

"Kono..." he shakes his head, only half getting what she's saying at this point.

"Steven J McGarrett" she takes his big hand in her own smaller one "will you please marry me?"

There's a deep, heavy and tense silence around the table, when everybody looks at Steve and he looks at the beautiful, flushed, excited young woman in front of him. Her mouth is partially open, with a mixture of awe and surprise. She wears ragged old jeans, and a simple red tee shirt and she'd never looked lovelier, in her life.

"I'll have to think about it..." he says after a few tensed moments, leaning back in his chair.

"_What?!_" she cries, well… actually they all cry it together. She shoots up on her feet immediately, and starts punching him on his head "are you fucking kidding me? After everything you've done?!"

"I'm kidding I'm kidding" he shouts, trying to protect himself "of course I'll marry you. Yes, yes. The answer is yes, just stop hitting me for one second, and I fucking will."

He takes advantage of the fact that she's too stunned to continue, and grabs her wrists quickly, pulling her towards him, forcing her onto his lap. He holds her against him, tightly, effectively capturing her between his strong arms.

"Kono" he whispers to her, making her raise her eyes towards him, while she still fights to get free "I've been thinking about it nonstop for the last month, baby. Of course I'll marry you."


End file.
